Gemini
by BluSkye425
Summary: MediatorxHP cross over! Suze is...ADOPTED! So she goes to Hogwarts to help out her TWIN brother from the Evil..the Crazy...HeWhoMustNotBeNamed! But...how is Suze gonna catch up? And what's this w Voldemort gathering angry ghosts?
1. Hoggywarts and Muggywamps

KawaiiQuerida-chan: Howdy! I'm back! Yay! As usual, I've decided to do a crossover! I probably SHOULDN'T be doing another fanfic, but I couldn't help myself. But I do warn you, I'm going to try to finish a couple of my other fanfictions so I can update this one more regularly, so chapters might be a bit far in-between. And besides that, this chapter is basically just a trial. If you want me to continue, say so, and I will do so as often as I can, okay?

Harry: When you told me you decided to do a Harry Potter/Mediator crossover, I admit I couldn't help but be interested.

Suze: Same here!

KQ-chan: Well, here it is! Places everybody! 5…4…3…2…1…ACTION!

Gemini

Ch 1: Hoggywarts and Muggywamps

Okay. I admit it. I was so happy; I could feel myself getting ready to giggle. But, I mean, come ON. This is Jesse de Silva we're talking about here, how could I not be happy to see him? I mean, he's only the hottest, sweetest, most understanding guy in Carmel—maybe even in the entire world. And I was FINALLY going to see him after 2 whole weeks. I mean, what was up with my mom grounding me for two weeks? Was she trying to MURDER me, or something?

It wasn't my fault. It wasn't. Oh, sure it might SEEM like it. I was, after all, the one who broke Christopher Johnson's nose and then proceeded to try to break his arm, but let me tell you: the guy deserved it. I know because a ghost told me so.

Now, don't bother calling Bellevue, okay? I'm perfectly sane, I assure you. I'm what you call a mediator or more specifically, a shifter. It's my duty to see the dead and help them move on by cleaning up all their messes. It can be a hassle at times, sure, but since Jesse joined the Mediator Incorporation (there's no such thing, I invented it), my job's become a lot more enjoyable.

But I digress. Well…I think so. It seems that everybody's using that word these days, so I decided that maybe I should too.

ANYWAY, so Katie Thomas told me that this Chris guy had brutally murdered her. There was no evidence, and nobody suspected Chris 'cause the murder happened in Oregon, and Chris supposedly has no connection to Katie. In fact, the guys investigating Katie's murder didn't even know that Chris existed.

Which would be why she came to yours truly. As a shifter, I can be very persuasive. People tend to listen to me if it means not getting their necks broken. What can I say: It's a gift. And now the detectives know Chris exists.

So THAT'S why I was grounded, and THAT'S why I was so gosh darn happy about seeing Jesse.

I'm not going to go into detail about my date or anything. I'll just say simply that Jesse looked especially hot that night and I had an absolutely wonderful evening. I wished time would stop in that one place.

The only reason I mentioned the date at all was so you knew that I had been happy earlier that evening. Keywords here, people are 'had' and 'been.' As soon as I collapsed on my bed in my shirt and boxers, that quickly changed.

I heard a tapping at my window, and at first I tried to ignore it. It wouldn't go away, though, so I decided to check it out. When I opened my window, something flew in, and I was barely able to swallow my scream. Just to let you know, I thought it was a bat.

But it wasn't—a bat, I mean. It was a bird—an owl to be exact. I noticed that as soon as I turned my light on.

Now…I suppose having an owl in your room would be weird enough for most people. I mean, I've never heard have having an owl knock on your window and then come in. But hey, at least it was a polite bird. Anyway, what was particularly weird about this bird was that it had an envelope in its mouth, and it looked like it wanted me to take it.

I went up to the bird cautiously and slipped the envelope out if it's beak. I read the envelope:

_Susannah Simon_

_Room with the view_

_99 Pine Crest_

_Carmel, CA 90456_

I thought that was weird, but I had no idea. I opened up the envelope and took out the thick and old-looking parchment. Like the envelope, the words were written in green ink.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL 

_of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Simon,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Normally we don't take in 17-year-olds, but we consider you a special case. It's really quite urgent. Mr. de Silva may join you. We've decided to create a Medical class._

_As I'm sure you know, you are adopted. Your biological mother and father are deceased, unfortunately, but your twin brother is alive and needs your help. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than August 26th._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

I couldn't move for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it was true. I was NOT adopted. If I had been, my mother would have told me. Or more importantly, my father would have. So it just couldn't be true. And what the heck were a Hogwarts and a Mugwump?

But how did they know EXACTLY where I lived? And how did they know about Jesse? Could it really be true? Could I really have been adopted and my mother hadn't told me? I decided it was best to find out before acting, but I couldn't help but believe that everything that had happened in the letter was truthful. And that made me mad.

"Mom!"

For the first time ever, I just burst into my mother's room. I was angry—angrier than I ever had been.

"Susie, what's the matter?"

My mother was still up reading a novel. Andy had been asleep, but jumped awake at the sound of my angry voice.

And let me tell you—the sight of your mother in bed with any guy—especially one that's not your father—way weird.

"What's the matter is this." I shoved the letter in her face, not caring about what it said about Pigs with warts and Wampsmug.

I watched my mother's face as she read. At first she was confused, but then I saw fear and sadness in her eyes. Tears welled up in mine.

"So then it is true? Why didn't you tell me? I really would rather have found out from you than from people talking about a school for witches and wizards!"

"What?" Andy was fully awake now. "What's this all about?"

My mother spoke in a quiet voice. "Your father wasn't able to have children, Susie, so we decided to adopt. We both were so eager to be parents that we didn't even think when this guy with a really long beard came to us with you in his arms. Especially me. I got the feeling that your father knew him."

I could only be silent. Andy grabbed the letter from my mother and started to read it. "What is this stuff? Witchcraft? Wizardry? Were Susannah's parents in the occult or something?"

I could only roll my eyes at Andy. How little he knew and understood.

"Do you want to go, Susie?" my mother asked me.

I stared at her. I really couldn't be mad. I mean, one never could tell that I wasn't the biological child of the people who raised me, and maybe Mom thought that it would be easier for me if I never found out. Or maybe she knew it would be easier on her.

I didn't want to hurt her, honest, but I needed to find out what I was. Maybe I could found out why I was a mediator—maybe it was hereditary.

I nodded my head. "I think I should see what's so urgent. But, um, I have school. What would we do about that?"

My mother nodded her head wearily. "Okay. We can say that you were accepted into some new school that just opened up in England. I don't think many will question it."

"Well okay."

So that's how it all started. As soon was I entered my room, I picked up the phone and called Jesse. A part of me wanted to cry, but I didn't. I explained to him calmly what had happened since he dropped me off and asked if he would be willing to come with me. I really didn't think I'd be able to go through with it all alone.

He said yes, so I gave him when we were leaving for England (August 26th), and broke the connection only to pick it up again and call CeeCee. She'd be angry with me for calling, but I needed to. Today was August24th, and it would be August 25th in one hour.

"Who are you and why are you calling me!" she practically screeched at me.

"Cee? It's Suze. I have something to tell you."

From there, I explained, as I had for Jesse, all that had happened and silently congratulated myself for not crying. Then I came for the reason why I had called her—I reason I thought was very ingenious of me.

"Cee? Umm…I don't think this school teaches the fine art of mathematics or why the War Between the States broke out, so I was wondering if you wouldn't mine emailing or sending your notes from class to me. I don't know if they have jobs, and I think it would be valuable to be able to take the SAT's when I'm ready."

"No problem, Suze. Wow…I hope everything works out for you okay."

"Yeah…me too. Talk to you later."

"Yeah…bye."

"Night."

As I hung up the phone, the numbers on my clock changed: it was now August 25th. Tomorrow I'd be off to jolly old England.

"Here's hoping I don't get swallowed by a Hogwarrty or a Muggywamp."

KawaiiQuerida-chan: So…? How was it? Didja like it? Was it bad, okay, great, or Superbly fantastical? Points to the last choice Tell me it's D when you review, and I'll update as soon as I can!

KawaiiQuerida-chan

(Order of Merlin First Class…etc)

/ Push that button!


	2. The Guy with the Scar

KawaiiQuerida-chan: sniff Thanks for the reviews, Chika1408, neostar, iluvmeg, Lady Starlight so kiss my ass, madmaddy, metamorphosis00,Missy Moose, Sir Pent, Suzanna,and Ray-Ray--Now here's the next chapter of Gemini!

Ch 2: The Guy with the Scar

August 25th had been a very trying time for myself. Most everything about my being a Mediator came out, and those who didn't know were elated to find out the truth—even if it DID take some convincing ("So you're NOT in a gang?"). But eventually I had Mom, Andy, Jake, and Brad understanding what was going on, and them believing that at least SOME magic could possibly exist. Believe me, that was a miracle in itself.

After the very long explanation, my mother helped me pack my stuff, and we had a little heart-to-heart about everything. Honest. Now, I know, confiding to your mother about practically everything is a bit…weird and…embarrassing, but I wasn't gonna see the woman for a good many months, and so…yeah.

Of course, I shared with her a little bit more of Jesse during the packing (I'd only mentioned that Jesse had been a ghost), and Mom seemed to enjoy it like one of her romance novels. I heard her mutter under her breath about how romantic the thought was.

That night, for supper, we had surf n' turf to wish me good luck in a world I knew nothing about and had really never stepped foot in. The surf n' turf almost brought tears to my eyes, but I was too nervous to have the energy to cry.

I mean, my brother. My TWIN brother. I was going to meet somebody who I should have been exceptionally close to, but didn't recall at all. I felt bad because I'd never even supposed I'd had a twin. Was I going to instantly bond with him? Would we finish each other's sentences? Were we identical twins?

And there was the fact of where I was staying. My mother gave me a good amount of money just in case, because all we got in reply was a small letter saying that I would be taken care of and that my parents needn't worry, but of course my mom still worried nonetheless.

The next day, we all met Jesse at the airport. The goodbyes were a bit emotional: my mother was bawling her eyes out, Andy was tearing a bit, Doc hugged me like he had some foresight that the filangee of the plane was gone—even Jake hugged me and warned Jesse that he would kill him if I went POOF. Brad only shrugged nonchalantly, of course. (A/N: If you want some info on the filangee I was talking about, cuz ur confused, just e-mail me, and I'll happily explain. There's no such thing as a filangee on a plane, BTW)

I waved my final goodbye, and Jesse put his arm about my waist, guiding me to our seats as much as he could. I was shaking, and I could see that Jesse worried.

"_Querida_, are you all right?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a good bit nervous is all. I mean, what if I'm no good at this magic stuff?"

"I'm sure, _Querida_, that they wouldn't have invited you to the school as a student if they weren't sure you had potential."

"You're probably right."

The plane ride itself was pretty much eventless, but that was probably because I slept through the whole entire thing with my head on Jesse's shoulder. Later Jesse told me that the elderly women sitting across for us couldn't help but coo at the cute pair we made.

Anyways, when the plane landed in England, my anxiety came back. Jesse, being how he is, sensed this, and once again put his arms around me.

Nobody was there to pick us up, and thinking that they might be waiting outside, Jesse and I went to pick out bags up. Luck was with us, and we found them—the bags, I mean—quickly, and then headed outside.

And almost ran straight into this guy. And he wasn't just any guy. No, this guy was, honestly, a giant, and he had a lot of curly dark hair surrounding, like, his entire head. And don't even get me started on what he was wearing. I mean…eww.

But, seriously, this guy was as tall as, like, two Jesses. And that's saying something, cuz Jesse's like 6 foot 3 or something. Not to mention the fact that the dude was four times as wide as Jesse—it was incredible! But, although this guy was certainly giant-like, and I had no doubt in my mind that he could take on bullies, I wasn't scared of him. He actually gave off a wave of compassion.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't see yeh there. I pologize. Lookin fer some kids, an…wait. Are yeh Susannah an Jesse?"

The guy knew our names, so I assumed—even though assuming leads to assumptions—that he was part of this Hogwarts business. And that led me to think that maybe he WAS a giant. And oddly enough, I thought _Cool_ instead of _Ahh! Run for the hills!_

"Umm…yeah."

"Nice teh meet yeh. Name's Rubeus Hagrid—but yeh can jus call me Hagrid. I'm the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, let's get yer stuff on a cab or someatt. But uhh…I don understand Muggle money—can yeh help me out?"

I was a bit weirded out. I mean, 'Muggle money?' Did he just mean regular money? I mean, AMERICAN here, people…well…obviously, I wasn't BORN an American, but I was raised like one, and I had no idea about pounds or Euros or whatever. This, however, is where Jesse becomes VERY useful. After the cab dropped us off at a nearby hotel, Jesse got out the proper amount as if he'd used it all his life. Then we went into the hotel and got a room for Jesse, again with him handing out the proper amount. Then we went into the room. That's where Hagrid filled us in on a few things.

Apparently, my biological mother—whose name I discovered was Lily—had had her cards read by a psychic medium at one point. The cards told her that she was pregnant, and with twins—two very powerful twins. Lily had gone immediately to Dumbledore and her husband and my biological father, James, and it was decided that no one could know about the twins. If anybody did, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named might find out, and that could mean the end of good. So, everybody was told that Lily was having one child, and when she gave birth, Dumbledore immediately took the youngest, the girl, and went to find a suitable Muggle home.

The plan worked out very well, and nobody but Lily, James, and Dumbledore knew about the little girl.

Hagrid then told us that a few months before her death, Lily went to the same psychic medium and had her cards read yet again. The Medium looked fairly sad, Lily said earlier, but that fact wasn't dwelt on. The cards said that the little girl had a special gift—she could talk to the dead. That little girl was a Mediator. And the psychic medium's name was Madame Zara.

Then came the really sad stuff. Hagrid told me that You-Know-Who decided to kill the Potters. Peter Pettigrew, who knew of the Potters' hiding place, told You-Know-Who where they were, and You-Know-Who successfully killed Lily and James Potter. However, when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named turned his wand on Harry, my brother, the spell backfired, and Harry was untouched except for a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had seemingly vanished.

Then he finished with explaining that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back and even stronger than before. He would rule the world if he could. A source had told Dumbledore that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was planning on using ghosts to fight on his side. After all, the spells wouldn't hurt them, but angry ghosts could certainly hurt the good guys. When Dumbledore learned this, he recalled what Madame Zara had said about the little girl and decided that it would be best to bring her here and hopefully use her gift so that the world could be saved.

The story seemed incredulous, but I had no choice to believe it all. I mean, most of it was right in front of my face—how could I not? And besides that, there was something else…

"Hagrid, did my adoptive parents name me, or did my biological parents do so?"

Hagrid obviously thought this an unusual question, but he answered it nonetheless. "Lily did. Actually, always thought it weird tha she named yeh Susannah, she an her sister were both named after flowers."

I had a small smile on my face. "She did name me after a flower—she named me after herself, actually. 'Susannah' is Hebrew for 'Lily.'"

We took a moment to reflect on that, but then Hagrid spoke up. "Speaking of Lily's sister—yer aunt—that's where you'll be staying."

"B-but I thought I was staying here, with Jesse." I got the feeling; somehow, that my aunt wasn't the nicest woman around, and that only elevated my nervousness. I wanted to stay with Jesse. When I was with him, I was something resembling calm, even through all this havoc.

"Dumbledore thought it best tha yeh stay with yer Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. Harry'll be there."

Oh, yeah…that makes it a WHOLE lot better.

My nervousness must have showed, for Jesse leaned over and put his hand in mine. "_Querida_, it will be all right. I'm really not that far away, and I'll come visit you often. This Dumbledore seems like a very wise man, and I think we should go with this idea. It will probably be best for you to be as close to your brother as possible—you never know when you may need each other."

I took a deep breath. "Well…if you think it's a good idea, Jesse, then I suppose I'll have to go along with it."

I stood up along with Jesse. "I'm only a phone call away, _Querida_. If you need me at all, just call and I'll be there as soon as possible. Not that you will—I've never seen a more strong-willed person than you. No matter how the Dursley's are, I'm sure that you can handle them, _mi amour._ (A/n: Is that spelled rite? I take French, not Spanish, so…)

I smiled, though a bit hesitantly. I wouldn't let Jesse down.

I nodded. "You're right. They're no different from Brad—and he's family…sort of."

"Of course I am right, Susannah, whenever am I not?"

Laughing now, I leaned up on my tip-toes and kissed his lips. But it was only a short peck. There was a giant dude just a couple of yards away, after all. "Don't let that head get to big, okay?"

"I promise, Susannah."

And then we went back to the cab.

It was horrible. I'd never been so nervous in my entire life! I was meeting my family, and I didn't think that any of them new I existed. What if Harry didn't WANT a sister? Or what if this was all some elaborate scheme to kill me or kidnap me or something? I mean, someone could easily have looked up my name online to find it's meaning and been all "Your mom's name is Lily." It might not be plausible, but definitely possible.

I wanted to shout, "Stop the cab" and get right back on the plane (with Jesse, of course) and go right back home to Carmel.

But can you really blame me? I think not.

But it was too late. We'd already reached the Dursley's. My nervousness escalated, and than hit overload when Hagrid dumped my bags on the doorstep, said good-bye, and left in the cab.

I couldn't believe it—he'd ABANDONED me!

Not knowing what to do, I paced around outside, thinking of a way to introduce myself. I came up with many ideas (Hey, Suze Simon here, and you've just won a brand new sister!), but none of them sounded very well. I mean, "Brand new sister?" What was I—a prize on _The Price is Right?_ No way.

I paced a bit more, cocking my head to the side when an owl tapped on an upstairs window and a hand reached out to let it in. When that happened, the corniest thought entered my head: was that my brother's hand?

Honestly.

But soon, the clear blue skies that had allowed warm sunshine to cover my shoulders changed into big black clouds that screamed a storm. And considering the fact that not only was I in a white top but I also had neglected to put on my water-proof mascara, I opted to save myself from looking like a wet dog and knock on the door.

When the door opened, it revealed this rather large and mean looking 17-year-old boy. I really hoped this wasn't my brother—I didn't feel like beating my flesh and blood up, after all.

"Who are you?" he asked in a British accent.

It was obvious he was flirting with me, and all I could think of what how gross that was. Whether he was my brother or my cousin, the thought seriously grossed me out. I mean, come ON!

"Susannah Simon," I said in an American accent. "I'm, um, here to, um, see Harry Potter? This IS the right address, right?"

I looked up at the sky as I said this, not liking the look of those clouds. Was the dude going to invite me in or just let me drown out here?

When I looked at his face I knew the answer—he love to see me soaked from head to toe.

Whatever.

"Why do you want to see him?" he asked, repulsed at the idea?

Yay! He wasn't my brother! There IS a god! And the fact that he wasn't my brother also made it so that I could be as rude to him as I pleased.

"Look, dude, my face is up here for one thing. And could you please get Harry Potter, and probably even your mom and dad, too. In case you're blind as WELL as stupid, it's kinda sorta going to pour out here, and I'd really rather be in something that doesn't allow me to take a shower in my clothes."

I wasn't nervous at that point, just REALLY angry with the guy. He, obviously, had enough brains to tell that I was angry, and that I wasn't really the kind of girl you wanted to mess with. Dudley Dursley might be a good bit bigger than I am, but I could SO take him on. Ghosts have super strength, ya know.

"Mum, Dad—there's somebody here to see Harry!"

Finally, some progress.

At his call, a man and a woman came, and let me tell you, there were COMPLETE opposites. Where he was overweight, she was extremely skinny, where he had no neck, she had too much neck. Where her hair was dark, his was light…and the list could go on. Obviously one thing they had in common, though, was a dislike for Harry and therefore, me.

These people were obviously crazy. I mean, who couldn't ADORE lil old sweet Susannah Simon?

"What do you want with Harry?" the woman—Aunt Petunia—asked.

"Well, you see…I'm—"

"Who's here?" asked a voice.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon parted, revealing a boy. I had gotten my first look at my twin brother.

He had hair the exact color of mine, but his was naturally messy, while I'd styled mine to perfection. His eyes were the same green (Jesse calls them emerald green) as mine, and even his eyelashes were a good bit like mine. Our facial features were close also, but his were a bit more masculine, while mine were definitely feminine. He was a couple of inches taller than me, and a tad bit skinnier than a 17-year-old should be. My eyes reached his forehead, and I saw the scar.

It was obvious he knew—or at least suspected—who I was, but I decided to introduce myself anyways. I stuck out my hand for him to shake and said, "My name's Susannah Simon. Umm…long time no see?"

Harry smiled and shook my hand, and as he did, a spark flew up my arm. His surprised expression said he'd felt it too. But we had no time to be all soap opera-y because my dearest uncle interrupted us.

"Are we supposed to know you?" he asked, obviously not in the best mood.

"No, you're not. But maybe I should introduce myself again, this time with the name I was given at birth. Hello, my name's Susannah Elizabeth Potter, and I'm Harry's twin sister. I'm younger by just 3 minutes and 27 seconds."

Whatever they had been expecting, it was not what I'd told them. Auntie Petunia gasped and put her hand on her chest, Uncle Vernon made some really weird noise that reminded me of the ghost-things from _The Grudge_, and Dudley stood there looking like an extremely stupid fish.

But I think the fish thing was usual behavior for Dudley.

Harry seemed to like their reaction, though. He gave me a rather large smile and stepped outside to get my bags. There were quite a few, though, so Harry ordered Dudley to carry the rest.

I got the feeling that most times, Dudley was the one dishing out the orders, but my cousin was still I his fishy daze and did as he was told. Unfortunately, my Aunt and Uncle weren't the same.

"What do you mean? She's not staying here! How do we know she's not some…thief that's pretending to be your sister! We would have known if _she'd_ had more than one kid, believe me. We would have been stuck with the two of you!"

Okay, I really didn't like this dude.

"Actually," I said, "you wouldn't have. Nobody but my biological parents and Dumbledore new about me until a bit ago."

"And regardless," my brother put in, "We can't just leave her out in the rain. In case she's an ax murderer, I'll stay with her, but I highly doubt that's whom she is. Though, if she's up to it, I might be up for hiring her for that sort of thing."

I pretended to look interested. "Hmm…maybe we can arrange something. I'd do anything for a pair of Jimmy Choos," I finished with a wink at Harry.

"Then it's settled. Let me show you upstairs. Dudley, my room."

Harry's room was really quite sparse. I didn't doubt that this was the job of the Dursley's, and I felt a bit guilty. I'd spent my entire life in a home with basically everything I wanted, while Harry'd been stuck here. He's the one who made that Voldemort guy go byes for a while, yet he had to stay here.

Remind me to never stop an evil wizard from destroying the world if that's the thanks you get.

Okay? Thanks.

After Dudley left, Harry closed the door, and I sat on his bed. I was seriously jet-lagged, and sleep seemed like a very good idea.

I yawned. "Okay, so I'll sleep on the floor then." I said, not minding it at all—honestly.

"No, I'll put new sheets on my bed and THAT'S where you'll sleep." Harry argued.

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh. This is your bed, and I'm intruding. But Hagrid just dropped me off, so I didn't have any time to ask about bedrooms or getting a hotel or whatever. I'll take the floor or a couch or something."

"I'm older and what I say goes. Besides, you just came here all the way from America, and you have to be exhausted. If you're going to Hogwarts, you'll need to be refreshed."

I decided not to argue, humored by the fact that we were already acting like siblings. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad—for either of us. Harry actually would have somebody on his side living in the house, and I would have somebody to learn from. He after all, must no SOMETHING about magic, whereas I knew nothing at all about anything.

Upon finding this out, Harry was a little nervous. He wondered how I was to be in my final year of Hogwarts if I didn't knowing anything about magic. Coming to a descison, Harry told me as he sat as his desk that he was writing to Dumbledore to see if he wouldn't be able to use his old books to get me at least partially up to date.

Once he finished, Harry asked me about what my life had been like, since I knew—or could guess—how his had been.

Deciding this was a good idea, I started on about my first ghost, and then skipped ahead to the move and gave little bit and pieces about the ghosts I had mediated. Obviously we had some sort of a freaky twin thing going on, because Harry seemed unusually interested in Jesse. I broke down and told him practically everything about the man of my dreams, and Harry put on a serious face and told me that he thought Jesse was too old.

"Now why couldn't you find somebody older—like that nice guy across the street? He's only 120—just the right age. Honestly, Suze."

By the time I finished telling Harry everything, Harry's owl, Hedwig, had arrived with Dumbledore's response:

_Dear Harry,_

_Of course you can help Susannah with her studies. I admit I was also I tad bit worried about her, but I think that magic is her subject—just wait until you see. She's had quite a good bit of practice already, but she does need to know what you've learned. Go ahead and teach her as you please, I'll take care of Fudge and whatnot. I'm sure he'll understand. And if not…finklefuds, it doesn't matter, now, does it?_

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

"Finklefuds?" I asked, wondering if this was some word somebody who lived in America wouldn't know.

"He made it up. He's really quite genius, but…a bit mad. In a good way, though."

"If you say so."

I was beginning to think maybe Hogwarts would be more amusing than scary. In fact, I knew it would be.

"We're going out to eat, so fend for yourselves." Auntie Petunia called as she slammed the door.

Harry's stomach growled, and his face had a hopeless look on it. Obviously, he couldn't cook.

"Don't worry! I've been doing a bonding thing with my step-dad, and it turns out I'm a natural cook—I remarkable thing for a native New Yorker. I'm sure I'll be able to whip up something!"

As I started our meal, Harry commented, "You know, everyone at Hogwarts can see ghosts, does that mean that we're all Mediators?"

"I dunno. Describe the ghosts to me."

Harry described see-through people who were a white-ish gray. I shook my head. "No, if you were a mediator, they'd look just like everybody else except for the spectral glow around them. Maybe they can sort of feed off the magic at Hogwarts and use that to be visible constantly if they want."

It was a good idea, and we both accepted it as fact.

Harry said he loved dinner, and I couldn't help but smile. For the first time since this whole thing had started, I was actually looking forward to going to Hogwarts.

KawaiiQuerida-chan: So…how was this chappy? Like? No like? Tell me plz, in ur review! I'd be FOREVER grateful! I kind of screwed up the dates, though, so we're going to keep them as it is, and just say that Suze is a REALLY fast learner when it comes to magic, ok? Ok.

Next chapter is to be called:

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Diagon Alley we go!


	3. Hi ho it's off to Diagon Alley we go

KawaiiQuerida-chan: I'm so happy! I wasn't sure if this story was going to go very well at ALL, but it has! I'm one of those people (if there are others besides me) that squeal at a review! And then to find more than one—it just makes my day, honestly. So thanks to:  
When r u gonna update: I'm gonna update July 1st at appox 8:30 AM  
aliciaspinnet323  
WickedIceSkater  
Ray-Ray  
godricshollow  
Pesche: I was rite the 1st time! Why'd i change my answer? Lol...tx anyways...maybe i'll use some of the words you gave me if Jesse's mad! OO...on Draco, maybe!  
Sir Pent  
Lady Starlight so kiss my ass  
whitedestiny34  
mrs.pookie  
Suzy-anna  
iluvmeg

Since you asked for another chapter, here's the 3rd!

PS: WARNING: POSSIBLY CONTAINS A SPOILER TO THIS STORY—NOT TO HARRY POTTER, JUST MY STORY! Lady Starlight so kiss my ass::shuffles on her feet: Is Sirius still alive? Well, I can't tell you THAT! But I couldn't stop crying when Sirius died…does that help? I think it just gave it away in a way…lol

PS2: Hmm…this chapter title…for some reason, I think I used it on Sakura+Hogwartsuh oh…oh well! is too lazy to check

Chapter 3: Hi ho, Hi ho, off to Diagon Alley we go!

Hi. Ahem.

The days I spent at the Dursley's were not the most pleasant days of my life. They all treated me as if I didn't exist, and if they did say anything to me at all, the said it rudely and refused to call me by my name. Harry understood what it was like to be nonexistent, and in four days, we'd probably become closer than most twins who had had one another all along.

Which is why, when Harry noticed I was acting strangely, I felt REALLY bad about not telling him. I just said simply that it was "that time of the month" and I wasn't really up to talking. I hate lying to him as much as I hate lying to my mother.

And it was really kind of me to not tell him, and she, I felt, really didn't deserve my protection.

Because, you see, I knew something about Aunt Petunia that I doubt even her husband knew.

And how I knew it really troubled me. On August 27th, I felt it odd that whenever somebody would be upset, I would become upset too. And not because I was upset about them being upset, I was just upset because…well it was as if I could feel what others were feeling a bit. That idea I had readily dismissed.

August 28th entailed me actually being able to tap into their feelings at will, and I started hearing people talking when they…weren't. It wasn't anything big, just whispers.

August 29th, the voices got louder, and unlike the emotion thing, I couldn't control it. That day, I rested in bed with a total and completely awful migraine. That was also the day I found out what I found out about dear Aunt Petunia.

Ya see…she's a…squib.

There, I said it.

Grandma and Grandpa were a witch/wizard, Lily was a witch, and Petunia…wasn't. Because of this, she became very jealous and decided to refuse to acknowledge the existence of the magical world, pretending that Lily was the freak in the family, but in all truth, it was actually Petunia.

Now does it all make sense to you? I hope so, because I don't think I can explain it any better than I just did.

Anyways, I decided that since Petunia obviously hadn't told anyone that little fact, she didn't want anyone to know. I then chose to keep her secret a secret until I told you—but you won't tell anyone, will you? Will you? I hope not, because then I'll have to kill you, and I don't want to do that because then you'll come back from the dead to haunt me.

And besides the whole I-wouldn't-want-anybody-telling-people-secrets-about-me thing, I was also too wrapped up in my own affairs to tell anyone.

In case you hadn't noticed, I had suddenly gained the power to feel people's emotions and read their thoughts.

You did notice? Good—Nice to see that you're paying attention.

On August 30th, the day we had decided (well…Harry's friend Ron's mum had decided, actually) to go to Diagon Alley (which I learned was where witches and wizards bought their wands and stuff), I told Harry just about the power thing, but not about the squib thing.

Harry set down the plate he was drying (we were washing the breakfast dishes). He looked a bit nervous, and why not? Who knew what went through his thoughts or whatever?

I decided to console him, "Don't worry about me barging in on your thoughts or emotions, though, Harry. I think I've got it pretty much under control. I've been practicing, and I haven't accidentally pried into someone's head yet!"

Harry nodded. "That actually could be a useful weapon. Who knows? It might even turn out to play a key role in destroying Voldemort once and for all."

I laughed. "That's actually what I was just thinking."

"We must have the freaky twin thing going on," Harry joked.

"Yeah…you stay out of my head, and I'll stay out of yours, got it?"

"Got it," we shook on it.

After we were done with the dishes, Harry and I went upstairs to finish packing our things. Surprisingly, Harry had more than I did. This, of course, was because of his books, broom, owl, and robes. I didn't need to bring as much as I normally would have, because of the school uniform thing.

I hoped they're cute. The uniforms, I mean. I really didn't want to have I big butt like the Pebble Beach work uniform gave me. That would totally suck.

It had been previously decided that Harry, Jesse, and I would meet outside some place or another that Harry had named at 1:00. At 12:20, Harry called a cab, and when it came, we put all our crap in the trunk and hopped in.

The driver was a bit weirded out about the Hedwig thing, but I explained that we had been taking care of it for my boyfriend, who was a zoologist. The driver didn't question me further, for which I was grateful because I really had no idea what a zoologist was.

As the cab made its turns to wherever the heck we were going, I became a bit nervous. I'd talked to Jesse on my cell phone whenever I wasn't doing the dishes or practicing magic (which, in case you were wondering, I'm better at than Muggle lessons—Harry even said I just might be as smart as Hermione, which, I believe, is a HUGE complement), but I didn't really want to invite him over to see his future in-laws—I didn't want him to die, after all. This meant that this would be the first time that Harry met Jesse, vice versa. I really wanted them to like each other, but would they?

On the dot, the cab pulled up in front of this shabby-looking place, and after we had taken our stuff and paid, then drove away.

Jesse, as I knew he would be, was already there.

He quickly went to grab my bags, leaving me with just a light backpack. Jesse put all of it in one hand, and with the other, held out his hand for Harry to shake.

"Hey, how are you?"

Harry shook Jesse's hand. "Fine. I've heard a lot about you. Suze can't stop talking about you."

I blushed a bright red, thinking _Harry_.

Jesse just smiled brightly, making him look even hotter—if that was possible.

God, I'm so lucky!

"I want to thank you for taking care of Susannah. From what she tells me, the Dursley's aren't…well…the nicest people around."

Harry laughed sarcastically. "There's no need for the use of euphemisms."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I was SO happy! They liked each other! I felt like doing some really weird dance like the people in the audience on _Ellen_ sometimes do. But that, I decided, would be _way_ embarrassing, and I _so_ did not want to embarrass myself in front of all of London.

No, thank you.

We walked into the shabby place, and when we did, the voices quieted a little. Everybody was whispering, and I could hear "Harry Potter" being said many a time. Apparently, my big brother was as famous as I'd heard. Thank goodness he hadn't let it get to his head.

Before we went shopping, however, it was decided that we should definitely get a room somewhere, and that's exactly what we did. Tom, the manager or owner of the Leaky Cauldron, told us to leave our items on the floor, and we obliged.

Then we went out another door, which led to a dead end. I pointed this out to Harry, but he just smiled and started tapping the brick wall. I was amazed when the bricks started moving, making room enough for us to go through, and revealing another area.

There were people EVERYWHERE, and they all were wearing very weird clothes. But then, given how people were staring at Jesse and myself, I changed my thinking to that _we_ were the ones wearing the weird clothes.

Hey, I'd worn this slip dress to save Jesse when Paul had had Maria have Jesse exorcised! It was also when Jesse realized that I liked him. It might be a bit funeral for certain occasions, but totally hot nonetheless, as some of the boys agreed.

I could tell by the whistles.

Jesse, of course, did not like this one bit, judging by his scowl, so I leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek, just to reassure him. Jesse's weird that way. He has this mindset that for some reason I'd leave him—the perfect guy—and go to some loser.

Maybe it's because he's 151 years old. Hey, it's just a guess.

Besides agreeing to meet Jesse outside that place, we'd also agreed to meet the Weasley's and Hermione outside of a place called Gringotts, which, Harry informed me, was the wizards' bank.

When we got there, there were many people waiting outside. There was a short-ish redheaded man, a plump redheaded woman, two tall, strong-looking redheaded twins, a very tall and rather thin (but still cute) red head, a redheaded girl, two muggles (man and woman), and a bushy-haired girl.

"HARRY!" called the bushy girl as she ran to him.

Harry hugged her. "Hey, Hermione, how are you?"

"Great, thanks!"

The rest of them greeted Harry in turn. It seemed to me that, while Harry was DEFINITELY not popular with the Dursley's, he was a hit here.

While greetings were made, Jesse and I had been ignored, but then the twins looked my way appreciatively. "Who are you?" they asked together.

This caused the rest of them to look at us with confused expressions, and Jesse to wrap his arm around me.

Did I mention that Harry hadn't told anyone about me just yet? No? Well, Harry hadn't mentioned to anyone just yet that I existed because he wanted it to be a surprise or something.

"Suze, Jesse, this is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger; you guys, this is Susannah Simon and her boyfriend, Jesse de Silva—Suze is my…well…my long-lost twin sister."

At first, all was silent, but then questions started to pour in. It was a lot to take in, and all the questions kinda started to give me a migraine.

Harry put up his hands to stop all the questions. "We'll explain everything tonight, okay? For now, let's just get on with this."

It was agreed, and after we all shook hands/hugged, we started for the door, but were interrupted when an owl flew and dropped a letter in front of me. I caught it in my hand and read the envelope:

Susannah Simon 

_Outside Gringotts_

Diagon Alley 

Everything just gets weirder and weirder, doesn't it?

It was written yet again in emerald green ink, and when I opened the envelope, I discovered that the letter itself was too:

_Miss Simon,_

_When your mother found out that you were a mediator, she went out and bought every book she could find on the subject. To this, she also went to multiple places (she spent the most time in Egypt) to find items dealing with mediators. _

_She knew, I feel, that she at least would die, and she wanted both you and Harry to be comfortable. In case of your return, she gave you a Gringotts vault filled with all she had collected and about as much money as Harry's contained. _

_She knew about the 9th key, and so she assigned you vault number 9, along with the 9th key of Gringotts. This is where you (and Mr. de Silva, I suppose) will get the money needed for supplies and further knowledge of your gifts._

_I wish you well,_

_Professor Albus Dumbledore_

There was something heavy in the envelope, and when I shook it, a silver key fell out. On it, the number 9 was formed into it.

"Wow." Harry and I said at the same time.

As I'd read the letter aloud, everybody was silent, reflecting on what they had heard. Hermione, the girl who knew everything, was the first to speak.

"What's a mediator?"

I looked at her. "I'll explain that when everything else is—explained, I mean. Now, let's go get some money."

Nobody argued, and we all headed inside. We then gave our vault number and key to the goblins (they REALLY freaked me out, and I wondered why Harry hadn't warned me), and were led in the cart thing through many twists and turns that resembled a roller coaster—which was definitely an added bonus. I had to fight to keep myself from raising my hands in the air and screaming my lungs out.

Mrs. Weasley got a bit of money out of her vault, and I noticed that there wasn't all that much in there. This became extremely obvious when Harry opened his vault nervously. Obviously he felt bad about having so much when the Weasley's seemed to have so little.

After Harry's vault was mine.

When we stopped, we were at this vault with some Egyptians figures on it. Figures I recognized from the book Paul used to 'teach' me. I have to admit, I felt pretty special, having a vault, like, specifically designed for me. Maybe being a mediator wasn't such a bad thing—in this world, that is.

The goblin stepped out of the cart, and I followed. He fit the key in the hole, unlocked it, and then opened the door.

Being a mediator is DEFINITELY a good thing in this world.

I estimated (though I wasn't really interested in the money) that I did in fact have about the same amount as Harry—our piles looked the same, anyways. But it was the other stuff that really impressed me. Lily really had done some collecting.

Completely covering 3 walls, and then a little bit of the 4th (where the door was), were bookcases. I scanned a few titles quickly, and ALL of them were on mediators. I didn't know whether they were fact or fiction, but it was still really very cool and all. I mean, there were THOUSANDS of book on what I was. I looked forward to being better informed on people of our…_persuasion _than Paul was.

Besides all the books, there were a lot of artifacts on marble pillars that depicted mediators and shifters. There were even a couple of paintings that had been done.

There was a chandelier on the ceiling, and off to one side lay a comfy-looking couch that I assumed my biological mother had put there for me to sit on while I read in here. Normally I wasn't a big reader, but hey, what can I say—the stuff appealed to me.

I felt an…aura—I guess you'd call it—and turned to where I'd felt it. On the bookshelf—partially sticking out—was a gold book. When I picked it up, I saw that the cover had pictures of different women and the planets and stars on it. When I opened it up, there were silver tarot cards in there, each, I supposed, with a different goddess on them.

I decided to take the book with me, and Harry helped Jesse and me decide how much to take. When we were done, the shopping began.

We first went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and that's where I got my school uniform. I saw a work-in-progress being made, and I decided that I'd make a few adjustments once I got mine. Maybe some longer stockings and DEFINITELY a shorter skirt. The ones they had were just WAY too long!

After that we went to Flourish and Blotts, which is where I got a lot of books by authors with really weird names. I mean, Phyllida Spore writing a book on fungi? I wished somebody would please tell me that it was just a pseudonym and not that your job is your last name. Because if that were true, I'd be stuck playing Simon Says or Pottery or something. Not exactly my dream job.

Then came the cauldron, phials, telescope, brass scales, and all sorts of things that I'd never thought I'd ever need to buy.

Finally—the thing that I'd been waiting for: a wand.

We walked into a shabby shop, and the guy, who I later found out was Mr. Ollivander, REALLY freaked me out. It looked like guy was staring everywhere and nowhere at the same time! Tell me THAT isn't freaky.

Go on—tell me. See, you can't!

And besides the way he looked (which I beg you NOT to make me get into—I still get nightmares), he came right up to me. His nose was, like, 2 millimeters away from my face—honestly.

And to top it all off, his breath smelled really bad.

"Who's this?" he asked.

Harry—bless him—spoke for me. "That's Susannah Simon, my twin sister. She's staying at Hogwarts for the year."

Mr. Ollivander gave a creepily knowing smile. "Ahh…yes…well…let's find you a wand, now, shall we?"

Let me just tell you: that statement is much more easily said than done.

For, like, an hour and a half, it was the same thing: Mr. Ollivander putting a wand in my hand, and before I could swish it, snapping it right back out. I was really beginning to think that maybe this was a sign that I didn't belong in this world.

Okay, okay—part of me wanted it to be that way—but only temporarily! You see, I was in these high-heeled shoes, and even though I'd been smart enough to break them in first this time, they still started to hurt my feet after standing for so long.

Eventually, he halted the wand-finding process to stare up into the ceiling for what seemed like forever.

Honestly, if it hadn't been for the fact that Harry had told me muggle items wouldn't work here, I'd have whipped out my cell phone and called the nearest asylum.

"I wonder…" Mr. O finally spoke. "Perhaps…"

The guy went way way way way way way back into the aisle, climbed up a ladder, and reached on the very top shelf for a box.

He blew off the dust and handed out the wand to me.

"This wand I was never sure about. It was given to me cheaply, and I bought it, not believing what the merchant said. He said that this 12-inch long swishy wand was made of the part of Yggdrasill that leads to the underworld and the hair of a Harpy. I wonder if this is the wand for you…"

He handed me the wand, and as soon as I took it, I could feel warmth spreading to all of my limbs. If this wasn't my wand, I didn't have a wand.

I'd found my wand—go me!

"There you go. That will be 8 galleons, please."

I was definitely glad to be getting out of that place. I shivered to release the pent up energy, and then faced Harry.

"So, where to now?"

Harry checked the list. "All we have to do now is get you two a pet." He said as he headed for Eeylops Owl Emporium, the rest of us in tow.

As soon as we stepped into the store, I was overwhelmed. It wasn't the senses overload I experienced every time I went to the mall, though, so I was really okay. But still, wall to wall, ceiling to floor, the place was packed with all sorts of REALLY weird creatures. And I mean, like, ALL of them were weird. Even if I recognized an animal, like…let's say a hamster, I would go to it and it would start talking its mouth off! Some of the animals I'd seen in my life could even sing, dance, do stuff on the high wire, or all of them at once! I didn't think I wanted a hamster that could keep me awake all night by it's—ahem—wonderful voice.

But then I saw it.

She was the most beautiful owl I had ever seen. For the most part, her feathers were such a dark black that they sometimes seemed blue, but at the tips they were a sparkling silver. Even more unusual were her eyes, which were a deep emerald green. I fell in love with her at once.

And to make it better—and maybe it's a bit corny—there was an owl right beside her that Jesse could have. This owl was as white as Hedwig, but at his feather's tips, it was gold. It's eyes were an odd blue.

Here's were the extreme corniness comes in.

"Hey, Jesse," I teased, "Look, it's Artemis and Apollo!"

Hermione couldn't keep herself from laughing. "How adorable!"

A few minutes later, both Jesse and I had our own "matching" owls.

It was after dinner, and everybody was gathered in my room. It was time to explain everything.

"I'm finally completely stumped," Hermione said (Ron: "About time"), "How can Jesse be 151 years old? Did he drink the elixir of life or something?"

I shook my head "I'm going to start with the basics. Okay. Both Jesse and I are what you would call mediators. Jesse is just that while I'm a more powerful mediator called a shifter. Mediators can see the dead, and to them, they look, feel, and…ahem taste like any other person. The only thing giving them away is the spectral glow that surrounds their form.

"As mediators, it's our job to basically clean up the messes that the ghosts have left behind. We basically make it so they can move on. Or with me, I can simply touch somebody (living or dead) and take them to Shadowland, which is sorta kinda like purgatory. I can also travel back in time, but that causes me to eventually end up like a vegetable, so I don't do that."

"Okay…so is Jesse a ghost?" George asked, not really believing it.

"He was. In Carmel in1850, Hector 'Jesse' de Silva was murdered in my house by Maria's—Jesse's fiancée and cousin—lover (Diego). Jesse was going to break off the engagement, and Jesse's death served 2 purposes. A) Maria could marry Diego, and B) Maria didn't have to go through the embarrassment of being rejected.

"Jesse stayed in my room for 150 years. Then I came. At first, I wanted nothing to do with Jesse, but then we became friends. We eventually fell in love after many hardships, and had a…difficult relationship. After all, I was alive, he was dead.

"Then, because of this shifter who had a thing for me, I went back in time to…well…basically make sure Jesse was murdered. But when I saw Alive Jesse, I realized that I couldn't do that, so I decided to make sure Jesse survived, even if he never died so that I never met him.

"Diego was killed, but the barn caught on fire, and alive Jesse rescued me and we jumped out of the barn. Without thinking, I shifted to my time, forgetting that whatever you touched when you were shifting shifted with you. As a result, Alive Jesse was alive in the wrong time. He was alive, but without a soul. He was taken to the hospital, but they had no idea what caused his coma, so they couldn't help him, and he was getting worse. I knew that it was the end.

"My father, who was a ghost at that point in time, got…umm…Dead Jesse to go to the hospital. We said our goodbyes, and Jesse accidentally put his hand on his body's leg, and was sucked in. I remember thinking that it looked like his body was rejecting his soul. Anyways, I thought that Jesse was gone forever, but then he opened his eyes and said the most precious word, "Querida", which means "beloved or dearest"—which is what Jesse calls me."

Ginny sniffed. "That's so romantic!" Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I get that, but what's with the suddenly-Harry-has-a-twin-that-popped-out-of-nowhere-after-living-in-America thing?" Ron asked, puzzled.

Harry explained, then, about what Hagrid had told me. This took a bit of time, and when Harry had finally finished, it was time to go to sleep. Everybody went to his or her respective rooms, and I stared up at the ceiling in my bed, not able to get to sleep.

At a knock on the door, I hurriedly got up. When I opened it, Jesse was standing out there, half asleep. He, it was obvious, wasn't having any troubles. Sleeping, I mean.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I could tell you were up, Querida. What's the matter?"

I shrugged. "Nothing. Just nervous, I guess. Everything's just so weird, ya know—even for me."

Jesse, who understood, closed and locked the door behind him, and led me back to my bed. After I was settled, he crawled in with me.

He put his arms around my waist, and I put my head right under his chin, and it was in that position that I was finally able to fall asleep.

KawaiiQuerida-chan: So…like again? I know, I know, it was a bit of a boring chapter, but I HAD to write it! He he here's a note to you all:

School's out, school's out, teachers let the bulls out! No more papers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

Also, I don't think I'll be updating until sometime toward the end of July, sorry! I'm going on vacation! Besides, I figured since the 6th book's coming out soon, I might read it and try to include as much stuff as I can from it in here—maybe. I'll read it first. So…as usually—REVIEW!


	4. Suze's Servant

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or Mediator, okay?

KQ-chan: Before we get started, I thought that you all might be interested to know—in case you haven't already figured it out my reading my last 3 chapters—that Dumbledore is NOT DEAD! I REFUSE TO KILL HIM OFF! I REFUSE REFUSE REFUSE REFUSE, AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! There. Most of books 6 will apply to the history of the characters in my story. I have, however, made a few changes:

 First off, as I've said, Dumbledore is not dead

 While Harry did have private lessons with Dumbledore, they were not about Voldemort's past. The info about his past is fact in my story, but I don't think it's relevant. Harry's lessons were about defending himself.

 At the end of the, um, school year, when Harry and Dumbledore went to get the Horcruxes, they were actually just practicing outside school grounds when they saw the Dark Mark.

 The only Horcrux that ever existed in my book was Riddle's diary, which has been destroyed.

 Harry and Dumbledore did go to the tower, Dumbledore did fully body bind Harry, and Draco did aim to kill Dumbledore, and Snape did say the Avada Kedavra Curse. Harry, however, was somehow able to fight the body bind and he knocked Snape over and his spell ended up missing.

 Snape and Draco left the building; Harry went after them, fighting Death Eaters in his wake. They escaped.

In case you hadn't noticed, I like happy endings.

Umm…I think that's it…unless I've forgotten something. My email's gonna change here soon, but I'll tell you it asap just in case you have any questions. And you can thank Rachel for this chapter, cuz she's the one I gave it to!

BTW: I'm VERY sorry that it took so long for this chapter—I apologize more times than I can count. But first it was the thing with me not being able to get online, and then we got a new computer…sorta…that will hopefully work a heck of a lot better than the old one! Here's hoping. And you should be very glad this chapter didn't have to be rewritten, I thought my pap had deleted all the things I had on the old computer! Anyways, it's OK, and so is this chapter, I think.

Chapter 4: Suze's Servant

The first day of school is usually very hectic. In fact 'first day of school' and 'hectic' are synonymous. That's just the obvious thing. You have all those new notebooks and folders and whatnot, and you don't want to forget anything. For some, they feel that on the first day of school, they have to be perfect so that the teachers will like them better—which is wrong, teachers shouldn't have favorites.

Blah blah blah—yeah, I know I'm Jesse's favorite, but that's so not the point. Okay it is but Jesse won't treat me any differently at all—I promise. Well, except for that whole we're-a-couple-so-we-have-to-do-what-couples-do thing. I'll kill Jesse if he treats all his students that way. And besides, I'm not taking his class—I hope.

But I've gone way off track.

While 'hectic' and 'first day of school' go together, I'd never seen a more hectic situation—ever. Because of my delightful narrative, a lot of people hadn't finished packing, and they woke up too late and had to rush around. Then we'd had to put all our stuff in the trunks of this car from the Ministry of Magic that didn't look like it could fit us and all our stuff, but it did. Then people would remember something they'd forgotten and run up the steps and down and up and down and up and…you get the point.

We reached Kingscross at 10:55—just 5 minutes before the train took off, so there wasn't much time for goodbyes, and we all had to scramble on the train. Then the Hogwarts Express started moving along the countryside, and we could finally take a breather.

Hallelujah!

After we all had recovered from the morning's activity, we all settled down to do our own thing.

Ron and Harry (and then Ron and Jesse) started playing a game of Wizard's Chess, which I found extraordinary; Ginny went over with some of the 6th years; and Hermione started where Harry had left off in teaching me what I'd missed, and was apparently impressed. We then decided to have tutoring sessions every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 3 till 5 until I was completely caught up.

We were only a half an hour or more from the station when the door was opened and this guy—along with two others—came in with sneers on their faces. The guy in the middle had dark hair that really needed conditioning, and a pig nose. He obviously thought he was all that but let me tell you, he wasn't.

The two guys with him were both rather large, but since they were hanging out with Pig Snout, I really didn't think that the light upstairs was very bright or on much—or at all. They were Pig Snout's body guards, which must have meant, I remember thinking, that he was a coward by himself.

"Well if it isn't Potty, Weasel, the Mudblood, and…well I don't know who you two are, but I must say," his glance was on me, "that I'm honored."

I frowned at him. "Gross," I replied as Jesse put an arm around me.

For a moment, his smile flickered, but he recovered quickly and continued on. "My name is Charles Malfoy Merridew. If you wish to get away from these," he paused, "well, what I want to say isn't proper, but I tempt you to join me and mine."

Somehow, and do NOT ask me how, I managed to keep my meal down and smile what I hoped looked like a fake smile. "I'm sorry, but I'd much rather stay here with my brother and boyfriend, despite your_ tempting_ offer."

Charles Malfoy Merridew obviously wasn't very pleased with my answer, because his demeanor changed very suddenly. He knew I was being sarcastic, so he was the smartest one of the bunch which, trust me, isn't saying very much.

"You think you're being smart, don't you? Well, you just made the biggest mistake of your life. We own this school, and we can make your stay here not so comfortable."

I pretended to look horrified and looked at Jesse. "Oh no! Did you hear what he said, Jesse? He's going to make our stay not so comfortable! I'm melting…Melting!"

Everybody but Merridew and his two cronies cracked up with laughter. Apparently even magic folk watched The Wizard of Oz.

"Now hurry up and go before I use the transporter spell on you! And you _really_ don't want that to happen, 'cause I haven't quite figured out how to move the _entire_ object to where I want. I'll get the hang of it eventually, but for now…" I trailed off and waved my wand threateningly.

With a glare that made me laugh because it so totally said "I'll be back," they left and we got on with everything.

'Everything' included changing into our robes, so we split up and, well, changed into our robes. By the time that was done, we were, like, two seconds from the station, so we all got ready.

As it is England were we in, it was raining fairly hard, so I was grateful when Jesse had an umbrella ready. Through the rainfall that was much like a waterfall, I could make out Hagrid's shadowy form, and heard him say what sounded like "Firs' years, this way!"

Hagrid must have spotted us with his lantern, for he came up to us. "Yer to go wit the others," he said to Jesse and me, "An somebody'll take you where yer ta go." Then he turned away and continued to call for the first years to follow him.

We did as we were told, and saw these carriages that were drawn by these weird black winged horses. We hopped in the carriages, and soon we were moving.

As a little girl, I dreamt of castles with princesses and princes and kings and queens, but then and there, Hogwarts beat those dreams. It was a magnificent building, and bigger then anything I'd ever seen. Though it was raining, I could imagine what the grounds looked like on a beautiful sunny day, and the moonlight shining on the lake was nothing but magical. When the horses stopped, we all climbed out of the carriages, and started to ascend the steps towards the large door. Before we got to it, though, I noticed a ghost right beside me grinning devilishly behind a girl of about 12 with a pair of scissors in his hands. As he went to cut off one of her long braids, I interfered by grabbing his hand.

"Do that if you want to stay here in one piece," I threatened as I dragged him away, not noticing that practically everyone was gaping at me in wonder.

The ghost stared at his wrist in wonder, looking rather nervous as he said timidly, "You can't hurt me."

I raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not permanently, but I can definitely hurt you."

To demonstrate and show off cuz by then I noticed that everybody was staring, I punched the ghost in the nose, and he started to bleed. While everybody started to cheer—apparently they didn't really like this ghost very much—the ghost bowed down at my feet.

"My name is Peeves, Mistress. Please, let's get out of the rain, Mistress. I promise I'll do whatever you want, Mistress."

I stood there blinking in shock, while thinking that Peeves was a rather appropriate name, considering he was probably a lot of people's pet peeve. But the more important matter was that never had a ghost called me 'Mistress' before because I punched them. No, usually, they just punched me back. It was kinda cool, but kinda disgusting at the same time.

"Umm…right," I said, "I'm gonna just get out of the rain like you, um, said, okay? Okay."

So we continued on our way (Peeves in tow), and I noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione all had rather large smiles on their faces. I didn't have enough time to question them, or ponder why they were smiling, because this rather fierce-looking witch had called my name, along with Jesse's.

Jesse and I headed towards the witch, and once we reached her, I noticed that Peeves had followed. I put out my hand in the universal sign for 'stop' and told him that he was to stay here for a while.

The witch looked surprised, but only for a second, and soon we were led away to an empty room. The witch gestured towards the two empty seats in front of the desk, while she seated herself.

"I'm Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. As we speak, the first years are getting ready to be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or…Slytherin. It's really rather simple. Your name is called, you put the Sorting Hat on, and it decides where you best fit in, and then you go to the table with the rest of the students in that house. We've put you in classes with your brother—hope you don't mind—and if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask any of the teachers. Firenze will take you to the Great Hall to be sorted, and if you'll stay here with me, Mr. de Silva, I'll explain everything to you as well."

The door to the room opened, and I had to fight to keep my mouth from dropping. Firenze was what I believed was called a centaur! I got up and tried my hardest to not stare at the…guy, but it was very difficult, and I was relieved when we reached the Great Hall.

The door opened, and Firenze led me to an area where the last first year was leaving. As "Lavender, Lena" was sorted into Ravenclaw, Firenze left me to go up to the rest of the professors, and soon "Simon, Susannah" was called to the stool.

I nervously climbed the steps, sat on the stool, then allowed a long-bearded dude put on this tattered hat. Instantly, a voice was in my head.

"Hmmm…a shifter, I see…very impressive, I must say. You have quite a bit of courage and stubbornness in you. And you're Harry Potter's twin? Well that along with everything else, I must say that you belong in…GRYFFINDOR!"

The table that must've belonged to my fellow Gryffindors erupted with claps, and I took a seat beside Harry. At this exchange, the whole room rippled with whispers, so they were obviously wondering who I was. The dude with the beard sated their appetite.

"I'm sure you're all wondering who that lovely lady is. I won't get into much detail, but I will say that she is Harry's twin sister. That is all I have to say on that matter, as I'm sure it is all Susannah and Harry will say also. She is staying with us to learn about what is rightfully hers, but as she has lived as a muggle…mostly, please forgive her like you forgive the first years that come from the muggle world.

"Now, besides Susannah, we have her boyfriend (the bearded dude seemed to stress that word, and I can't really blame him) Jesse de Silva. We have decided to create a class for you to learn Muggle healing techniques, which will be in session on weekdays and hour before dinner. Please come out, Mr. de Silva."

All the girls gaped at Jesse, and who could really blame them, honestly.

Jesse seated himself beside Professor McGonagall, and he smiled at me when he caught my gaze, and I smiled back.

"Now, let's us begin eating."

Like magic—because it was magic—food and drink sprouted from the golden plates and goblets in front of us. The food was very delicious, and by the end of dessert, I felt like I was ready to explode.

Once we were dismissed, I stayed behind to give Jesse a quick kiss goodnight, then caught up to were the others (including Peeves, of course) were waiting for me. Then they led me through the castle to this portrait of a large lady in a pink dress. Before I could ask why we were all staring at her, she opened her mouth and said regally, "Password?"

"Shadowland," Hermione replied, and the portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. We stepped in, and I saw large room filled with comfy looking chairs and couches and desks and everything. It was a rather nice dorm.

With all the excitement, and with the next day being the first day of classes, we all decided to retire then and there, and Hermione led me up to the girls' area.

Right before we entered, I realized that Peeves had followed us. "Umm, Peeves?"

"Yes, Mistress?"

"Umm…I don't think it's a good idea for you to come in here with me. Why don't you stay downstairs or go wherever you want to? Just don't cause anybody any trouble. Except for that Merridew guy, I _really_ don't like him."

Peeves nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mistress."

When we entered the room, I looked at Hermione to find that she was trying not to laugh.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just that it's definitely a good thing that you have Peeves obeying your every whim, because he always gets in our way. Now he won't."

Hermione and I got ready (somebody—or maybe something had delivered all our bags to our room), and as we lay down for bed, she asked, "How do you like it so far?"

I thought for a second. "I like it. I'm actually kind of excited."

"Night."

"Night."

KQ-chan: OW! My legs hurt (don't ask)! I can't walk! I'll post the next chapter asap…I use that a lot…asap…asap asap asap asap asap! Lol. Love ya!


	5. The Seer

KQ-chan: Okay, here's the 5th chapter of Gemini, and guess what, readers? I can upload it myself! I don't need any help! Yay! Aren't you guys proud of me? I know I'm proud of me! I'm also proud of my reviewers! I love you guys! Oh, and the potion is from Charmed :cries: which is ending soon :sniff: sorry, I need some time alone now.

Chapter 5: The Seer

I'm sure you all have had, at one point in time, a really weird dream. Maybe it was weird creepy or weird strange, like this one dream I had where an angry Thomas the Train Engine said: "I've got you now!" and started to run into me. Actually, that dream was both creepy and scary…

Whatever. The point is that you've all had a whacked out dream.

That first night in my new bed, I had the weirdest creepy dream. It was filled with witches and wizards and death and magic, I know, but when I woke up, that was all I could remember. For some reason, though, I felt cold fear in every inch of my body, and I had no idea why. I felt like I knew something terrible was going to happen, but I didn't know what exactly.

Then, suddenly, there was a scream from outside, and the name Nicole Bratly came to mind—along with a lot of blood.

That woke up my roomies, and we elected to go find out what the hell had happened.

We weren't the only ones, apparently. When we got to the common room, most of Gryffindor was there, along with Professor McGonagall.

Everybody was talking at once, and from what I could hear, they all wanted to know who had screamed and why.

"Silence!" McGonagall roared. "We don't know. All students are to stay in their rooms until further notice."

And with that pathetic explanation, she left.

I needed to know what had happened to prove what I thought wrong, so I caught Harry's eye, and we both agreed to meet in the 7th year boys' dorm. Harry dragged Ron while I dragged Hermione.

Once the door was closed, I mentally called to Peeves, who materialized in front of me a few seconds later.

"Peeves, I was wondering if you'd find out what that scream was all about for me," I asked.

Peeves readily agreed and then dematerialized.

Harry looked at me curiously and asked, "Suze, what's wrong? You seem…frazzled."

I shook my head. "It's probably nothing."

Peeves appeared. "Some 3rd year was murdered. She was sneaking off school grounds," he lowered his voice, "There's blood everywhere."

Blood. My voice was pained. "What was her name, Peeves?"

"Nicole…Bratly."

I sighed heavily and seated myself on Harry's bed, then put my head in my hands. I felt someone sit down beside me; then heard Harry's voice.

"Suze?"

"I knew. I knew Nicole was going to die."

"What?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione exclaimed together.

"I knew. Right before I heard the scream, I woke up because of this weird dream with a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Then, when I actually heard the scream, blood and Nicole Bratly came to mind."

There was silence for a bit, then Harry put in, "Don't go barmy on us, Suze, how is that possible?"

I shrugged. "How should I know? But something's…happening to me. First the whole reading minds thing and now this? I don't know…maybe it has something to do with my being a shifter?"

"Well, I supposed you have the 'sight,' and certainly more that the fraud, Trelawney claims to have. But don't blame yourself for Nicole's death, Suze. She should have known better than to sneak off grounds, especially with Voldemort and all. And even if she _hadn't_ done so, you only recalled what had happened when you heard her scream, and by then, Nicole would have already been dead. Next time you feel peculiar, you'll know something bad is going to happen, and warn everybody."

Ron nodded, agreeing with Hermione. "And maybe next time you'll actually remember your…uh…vision, too."

"The best thing," Harry finished, "For you to do is to go to bed. Tomorrow we'll go see Dumbledore and hear what he thinks of your new abilities. Perhaps he'll think of how you can control them, and then they'll be rather useful."

I sighed. "You're right. I think I'll go do that now. Good night."

"Good night," They replied.

I love Harry to death, really I do, but _honestly_. What I had dreamt was basically a nightmare, only it had come _true_. Now, I don't know about you, but after I have a nightmare as terrifying as that one was, it's kinda hard to go back to bed. And that's with a normal nightmare, not the watch-out-because-when-you-get-up-your-nightmare's-gonna-actually-happen kind of nightmare. How did he expect me to go to bed after that? Harry was definitely whacko, and not in the British slang way that means 'cool.'

The good thing was, I didn't have to worry about going to bed and having another terrifying 'nightmare.' As always, Jesse seemed to have sensed how I felt, and was sitting on my bed, looking worried.

Which is another thing: from what I'd been told, boys weren't allowed in the girls' dorms because, apparently, boys were thought not as trustworthy by some spell. You'd think that the spell would be especially weary of guys like Jesse. If he wasn't the type of guy that stands whenever a lady stands, that is. I mean, what with the news and teachers molesting their students and all.

Not that I was ungrateful, because I wasn't—I was glad. I just tend to let my mind run off topic and that's where it went for a bit before I tugged it back.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?" I asked finally.

He looked at me curiously. "I…felt that you were scared," he replied.

I sat beside him. "How do you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" he replied.

"Always know what I'm feeling or say something right after I thought it."

"I don't know, _querida_. I just do."

I nodded, understanding what he meant. "I told you about the reading minds thing."

"Yes…"

"Well, now there's something else. I know Nicole Bratly was murdered." This time it was _I_ who knew what he was thinking and interrupted him. "And not because of Peeves. Well…I did send him to find out, but that was only because when I heard her—Nicole, I mean—scream, her name and the word blood came to mind, and right before that, I had a really bad dream that I can't really remember now, but it must have been terrifying because I woke up scared out of my mind." I took a deep breath, having said that without taking one.

Jesse kissed my forehead. "What you need, Susannah, is a night's sleep without any nightmares…or premonitions, if that's what that was." He reached into his pocket. "And I just so happen to have a potion made for just that."

I smiled up at him ruefully. "You think of everything, don't you, Jesse?"

He smiled back. "Of course, _querida_. Oh, and...the students aren't supposed to know about Nicole..."

"My lips are sealed."

I took the potion, and in no time at all, I was sound asleep and didn't have any more dreams.

Hallelujah!

Jesse's potion worked miracles, and I woke up after a restful and dreamless sleep. The only bad thing was that, when I woke up, Jesse wasn't there beside me. Of course, once I woke up a bit, I realized that there was a sheet of paper lying on the bed. I picked it up and began reading:

"_Dearest _querida,

_I am sorry that I had to leave you, but, as a professor, I have to be in the Great Hall before the students, and you looked so beautiful while you slept that I couldn't wake you. However, if I remember correctly, you have some time after Potions…_

_Also, I was thinking of meeting with Professor Dumbledore after dinner to talk about what happened last night, if that is all right with you. _

_Love, _

_Jesse _

I blushed—yes, I admit it—after reading the letter, and happily got ready for the day, the horror of what happened the previous night completely forgotten.

Well, not _completely_. I mean, it's kinda hard to forget that I knew somebody was gonna die, you know? But it was far enough in the back of my mind that I could be happy, which is always a good thing.

And actually, as soon as I got to the Great Hall, my spirits brightened even more. Because Merridew—who looked like he was about to wet his pants—was being chased around the room by Peeves. Not that you could really tell or anything even if he had peed his pants, because Peeves was throwing water balloons at him continuously.

All the teachers—including Jesse—were frantically trying to persuade Peeves to stop what he was doing, but to no avail. Even the Bloody Baron—who is supposedly the only one that can control Peeves—was unable to bring the water balloon fight to a close.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and eventually Professor Snape (about whom Harry had informed me of) asked me—well, ordered me, actually—to stop Peeves. I halted the process for as long as I could, but eventually, I got Peeves to stop, and secretly asked him to be more subtle next time, so no one could ask me to end it like they had this time. Peeves gladly obliged. Having a servant at your beck and call is really cool. If you can get your own Peeves, I highly recommend it. They're very entertaining.

Breakfast passed uneventfully, and soon it was time for potions, the class I was dreading. The thing was, it was all Harry's fault. I mean, if he hadn't gone on and on and on and on about how horrible Snape was, I would have been all nonchalant about it. As it was, Harry had scared me to death. I did NOT want to be bad at the whole magic thing.

We entered the Potions lab and quickly took our seats and waited for Professor Snape to come. We didn't have to wait long.

"Today we're going to start with a potion that you're going to create all on your own. A summoning potion." Everybody in class looked horror-stricken, and you could tell by the look on Snape's face that he didn't think that anybody's would actually work. "I'm going to give you the ingredients needed for the potion, and let you do what you will to make it work. Add your own ingredients; wave your wand around, hop on one foot…whatever it takes for it to work. If one of you gets the potion to work in its entirety—which I doubt will occur—I won't count it as a grade. Otherwise…" he left off, knowing it was unnecessary to continue.

Snape put us into pairs (me and Harry; Ron and Hermione) and then waved his wand at the chalk board, and a list of ingredients appeared on it. I studied them carefully for a moment; then grinned in pleasure.

Before I left for England, Doc had given me this book on different sorts of herbs and stuff. I thought he was kinda of kooky for doing it (though who am I to judge, really), but I took it, and actually started to read it. All of the ingredients listed on the board were in the book, which described their properties. Combine that with my new knowledge of everything culinary, and you had yourself a Potion's Master, a.k.a.: Me.

He wasn't giving us much time to make the potion (we also needed time to summon), and I had used a bit of time just studying the ingredients and thinking how much of each to use, so I had to work fast. I hurriedly added a pinch of rosemary, a sprig of cypress, and a yarrow root to my silver mortar. After that I grabbed the knife I was to use for chopping of various ingredients and my matching pestle, and waited.

Even though I'd waited so long, I was still the first one done. Snape looked at me with a sneer on his face from where he sat. He obviously didn't think I had done mine right. I'd show him.

Soon afterwards, time ran out. Ron and I hid first, while Harry and Hermione summoned. Unfortunately, Harry's barely did anything (but he was definitely not alone), and Hermione's seemed to work for a moment, but then ran out of juice or something.

Then the other half of the class went, and everybody got the same result that Harry did—except mine. After I was sure that Harry was hidden away, I started grinding up my ingredients with the pestle while chanting: "Power of the witches rise/Course unseen across the skies/Come to us who call you near/Come to us and settle here." After that, I took the knife and—to everybody's surprise—poked my finger with it. Not much, just enough so I bled. While the blood mixed in with the ingredients, I chanted: "Blood to blood, I summon thee/Blood to blood, return to me."

And sure enough, seconds later, Harry appeared right before me after a lot of sparkly stuff. Am I good or am I good? I think I'm great!

Snape, I think, was upset that everybody wasn't flunking on the first day, but I think he was also impressed with me. Maybe he thought I'd be Snape, Jr. or something. As if. I would NEVER let my hair become that greasy. And don't even get me STARTED on those robes…yuck. I mean, it's a good thing that bad fashion didn't make Voldemort murderous, 'cause if that was the case, Snape would have been the first to go.

Anyways, in spite of the whole I-did-really-well-my-first-time-in-potions-even-though-I-had-been-totally-and-completely-dreading-it thing, I was extremely excited when Potions was over. This was on the account of Jesse's wanting to meet me, if you couldn't guess.

I met Jesse in the Great Hall—which was empty—and we…well…that's really none of your business, now is it? Not that you don't know now, or couldn't guess even before I mentioned the noneya thing, but whatever.

So, we were right in the middle of our little make out session when we were interrupted by none other than Charles Merridew Malfoy. At the time, that really annoyed me, but looking back, it was probably for the best, considering that I might have ended up on one of the tables, and I don't think that would have beenvery sanitary.

Like I was saying, he walks in, interrupts us, and all of a sudden, this look of absolutely glee appears on his face. I was totally clueless, and I could tell that Jesse was too. We soon found out what Merridew was so happy about.

"You guys are so damn busted. You're going to be in so much trouble when Dumbledore find out you two were making out! I'm going to love this! You're going to get expelled and you're going to get fired! Life is great."

I looked at Jesse and Jesse looked at me. The look in his eyes mirrored my own thoughts, which went something like this: _Okay, so maybe making out in the Great Hall wasn't such a hot idea. We were probably setting a bad example, and I guess it's not very professional on Jesse's part, but really—Dumbledore, getting rid of us? He especially asked us here in the first place. If we promise to keep it in a private place, we'll probably only get a tsk tsk. _

"So?" Jesse and I said to Merridew—hmm…maybe I should call him Merripoo from now on—at the same time.

Infuriated, Merripoo stomped away like the 3-year-old he was, and left Jesse and me alone. Not that we continued where we left off. No. We said our goodbyes, promised to meet up outside the gargoyle to Dumbledore's office, and departed.

Like breakfast, the rest of the day was pretty much uneventful. Some classes I realized I was really going to like, and some classes not so much. All in all, it seemed like Hogwarts was like any school I'd been to. Except for the magic, and the castle, and the classes, and some of the teachers, and the groundskeeper, and the animals and…okay, so it wasn't THAT much similar. Still, I felt just the same about my classes here as I would have had I still been going to Mission Academy.

Like we had agreed, Jesse and I met up at the gargoyle. Jesse said the password, and we were permitted. Outside Dumbledore's door (no pun intended), Jesse knocked, and Dumbledore welcomed us inside. Once seated, I explained the situation.

After I'd finished, Dumbledore's expression was thoughtful. He was silent for quite a while, and when he finally spoke, I reflexively jumped.

"It seems to me, Susannah, that perhaps you are a Seer."

"A What-er?"

"A Seer," he said again.

"Seer? Ooookay. What is that, somebody who sees? 'Cause I've had that down pat for years, Professor D."

Dumbledore blinked a few times in surprise, probably because of the 'Professor D.' thing; then went on. "No. You already know, of course, how a Shifter is—in a way—just a higher level of a mediator?" he asked.

"Uhh…yeah, I guess."

"Well, a Seer is just another level up. They see things that others can't: ghosts, auras, the future, even the truth. They can also have other powers, such as telepathy and telekinesis."

"Whoa, wait: telekinesis? And 'see the truth?' What's up with that?"

"Did you happen to bring the book _The Sight _from your vault in Gringotts?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yes," I answer slowly.

"Read it and most of your questions will be answered. As of right now, I have to take care of Charles Malfoy. It would seem that he knows something of great importance." Professor D. looked at Jesse and me pointedly, and then left.

"I knew it!" I announced loudly.

Jesse looked at me, confusion looking hot on him (of course, what _doesn't_ look good on Jesse). "You knew that you are a Seer that has telekinesis and can see the truth?" Jesse asked.

I snorted. "Of course not. Otherwise, coming here would have been a complete waste of time. No, I was referring to us not getting in trouble for the making out in the Great Hall thing."

"Oh. Of course, _querida_, just because we didn't get in trouble—"

"—doesn't mean we should do it again," I finished for him.

"In the Great Hall," Jesse added. "However…I think that my room is perfectly acceptable." And with a devilish grin, we left Dumbledore's office.

KawaiiQuerida-chan: I'm soooooooooooo sorry you guys. Omg…I never meant for it to take this long. I'll try to update the next chapter in less time than I did this one, but I don't know…I was inspired by those that reviewed in the past 2 months or so, and also the guilt I felt…and also because April 25th is my birthday! I'll be 16 years old! W00t! Yay! So—because I'm such a kind person—I'm giving you guys this chapter, even though it's my birthday! How about you guys give me presents in the form of many reviews? Plz? Pretty plz? It's that's lovely purpleish button down there. It's calling your name. It's going "(your name here), click me! You know you want to! Click me!" Okay, I'm going to stop typing now because my hands are sore from typing so much (when I started today, I only had, like, 3 paragraphs done..hehe…so my arms hurt…Oh, how'd you like the Professor D. thing? I didn't even realize about the whole Father D./Professor D. thing until I'd typed and was like Whoa! Awesome!. Anyways, remember, Review: You know you want to! Hmm…that sounds like an ad…


	6. Two Seers Are Better Than One

KawaiiQuerida-chan: Okay…so the OC in this chapter is sort of in honor of Kino Makoto…sort of. I just kinda used her personality and whatnot to form my character. Oh and, amattsonperdue, I know you wanted me to update before May 15th, but I couldn't even write a word until now. I had this stupidhistory project that took forever to do and then I had to study for finals. I'm sorry, but I'm not that much off. And at least it didn't take me as long to do this chapter as it did for me to do chapter 5, right? Right. So here's chapter six.

Chapter 6: Two Seers are Better Than One

I'm sure that you've heard of the phrase "dying of boredom," right? You probably use the phrase all the time while waiting in line for one thing or another. But you've never meant it literally. Well I do: I was dying of boredom. Seriously. The professor just kept talking and talking and talking about stuff that went through one ear and out of the other.

I could swear that I could feel my spirit leaving my body (and I would know, considering how many times I've been to Shadowland). I was sure that my heart beat was getting slower and slower with each passing second. Iglanced over at my brother, and he looked how I felt. Obviously, I wasn't alone in the dying thing.

Actually, it was kind of ironic, considering. I mean, when Harry first told me about the teacher who was instructing the class, it was like "Whoa, a ghost teaching a class?" I was so looking forward to the class. But the ghost was _boooooring_. And stupid, apparently. He didn't even know he was dead, it seemed to me.

I couldn't take much more of this. Actually, I _wouldn't_ take much more of this. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Rebecca?"Professor Binnsasked.

I scoffed, disgusted. I'd take being called Susan over Rebecca anyday—at least Susan was relatively close to my name. "It's Suze, first of all, and second. I'm bored."

Professor Binns blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm bored. I want to do something that makes me not bored. None of your students is absorbing anything you're saying—well, except for Hermione, maybe. Why don't we go out on a field trip where something magically historical happened or whatever? Then your class wouldn't be asleep—unless some of them can sleep standing up or something."

And that was how we got to being at the Hoyle House. Apparently there was some sort of magical battle that happened in the 1600's sometime or something. But I didn't really care about that. All I cared about was the fact that we were out of that stuffy old room. Oh, and how stupid I was for suggesting the field trip in the first place. In case you're as forgetful as I am, allow me to remind you: places you learned about in history class happened in history, making them old, making it _highly_ probable that some ghost(s) is/are wondering about.

Good job, Suze, great going.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I took my first steps into the place. Can you blame me? I mean, the war was between a good guy and a bad guy, and the bad guy lost, so he could still be here. Good guys are a pretty easy task when it comes to sending them to the afterlife—bad guys, not so much.

My first 5 minutes in the place were okay. I didn't see any sign of anything paranormal—well, unless you count Merripoo's BO, which I don't. Then all of a sudden, there they were.

They were fairly young—too young to die—but I guessed that maybe they deserved it. There were 8 of them gathered around our group and started making remarks about different people. They insulted almost everybody, and made sexual remarks about some of the girls that I will not relay here because I don't want to say them. And trust me, you don't _you_ don't want to hear them.

Anyways, I didn't show that I knew they were there. Throughout all their comments, I'm happy to say, I was able to remain completely nonchalant. I wanted to see if I could gather any info about them before I sprang into action—that and I didn't feel like exorcising these ghosts in front of my classmates. Yes, they know about magic and all that jazz, but I'm not sure even they could handle seeing lil' old me going all kung fu/priest on them or whatever. Not everybody in my group, however, has the sort of control that I have…apparently.

"Ok, what the hell is your problem? I mean, can you _be_ anymore disgusting? Honestly! I knew coming here was a bad idea, it's _way_ too old, and there are _way_ too many ghosts here!" some girl that I'd seen in the halls said.

Everybody (including the ghosts) looked at the girl in surprise. "You can see us?" one of the guys asked, stepping closer to her.

"You'd better stayaway from me, you psycho freak!" she exclaimed, punching the dude who I assumed was their leader in the gut, which made me sigh. I mean, come on, didn't this girl know the art of surprise? Now the ghost knew that she could touch him, which would leave him to believe that he could touch her. Not smart. I could tell that I would probably have to but in by the end of this little episode. This girl—whoever she was—obviously didn't know how to act around ghosts. Maybe she had no knowledge of what she was supposed to do. It was up to me to help her—better than I had helped Jack, that's for sure. But at the moment, I thought to let what was happening happen. Maybe I wouldn't even need to intervene at all. Yeah. I wish.

While everybody was staring at the girl fearfully, and while the ghosts were approaching her threateningly, I took the time to study her a bit. She was obviously 17 or 18 years of age, with dark green emerald eyes. Now, Jesse and my mother say _I_ have emerald eyes. And maybe if I'm surrounded by brown-eyed people I do. But this girl's eyes defied the laws of...color they wre that green.Okay, moving on. She was about 5'7" with light brown hair down to her waist. She was an extremely pretty girl, which made me wonder why she didn't hang out with the so called "popular" people.

I got my answer when a Slytherin girl that was standing next to me whispered to her friend, "God, first she's all insane psycho karate-chop girl, and now she's talking to things that aren't there?"

"Well, be glad she's punching air and not somebody's face," her friend replied.

Yes, punching in people's faces did tend to put you in the not popular part of the list. Actually, it put you in the freak column, something I could _totally_ relate to. Hadn't I, after all, been regarded as a freak in New York because of my propensity to punch both people _and_ invisible things?

I decided it was my duty as a fellow ghost and people puncher to help this girl out. I mean, she didn't need any more rumors flying did she? By the way, that was a rhetorical question.

And besides, the ghosts were extremely close to her now. She looked like she could take care of herself—even if she had no idea about her mediator-related powers—but I didn't want to haveeverybody watch her kick "air." So I did what anybody would do to protect a fellow mediator: I tapped Mr. Leader on the shoulder and kicked him in the gonads.

It was a wonderful sight, actually.I mean, he went down so fast; I was actually amazed at my own strength. And I had to admit, it was extremely funny to see him crying like a freakin' baby.

I turned towards all the people in the class room. "I don't know if you guys are aware of this," I said, "but this place is haunted."

That sentence got exactly the response I was looking for, which was that everybody—excepting Harry, Ron, and Hermione—ran out of Hoyle House with their tails between their legs. And amazingly enough, I may not mean that figuratively. I mean, for all I knew, some of them _could_ actually have tails.

Whatever, so Harry and his friends were there. I felt a need to be alone with Ms. Blackbelt, and I still had the ghosts to bust, so when I asked for them to leave (politely, of course) they readily agreed.

First things first, I dealt with the ghosties. I threatened to beat the crap out of them if they didn't go into the light, and all but Mr. Leader disappeared instantly. I had to slam his face into the ground as I had done to Maria—which was messy, but affective.

I turned around to face the girl, who was looking at me appreciatively. Obviously I had impressed her.

I reached out my hand. "My name is Suze Simon, Shif—I mean, Seer—extraordinaire."

She shook it. "Alayna Carver. Layna for short."

I looked at her curiously. "Do you know what you are?"

Layna nodded. "Sort of. I mean, both my parents are dead, and they came back briefly to explain a bit of it. I know what I'm supposed to do—help ghosts go 'into the light,' as you said—but that's about it."

"At the very least you're what's termed a mediator. You could, however, be more than that."

Alayna looked confused, and who could blame her? "What do you mean 'more than that?'"

"You can see, talk to, and touch ghosts—that much is obvious. But can you do anything else?"

She shrugged. "Sure. When I'm pissed, sometimes things just fly off of shelves or whatever. And I can read minds."

"No way! That means you're a Seer, like me!"

"A Seer…what the hell is that?"

"Well, as Professor Dumbledore put it: 'A Seer is just another level up. They see things that others can't: ghosts, auras, the future, even the truth. They can also have other powers, such as telepathy and telekinesis.'"

"See the truth. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

I smirked. "That's what I thought. I'm supposed to read a book my birth mother got for me, but I haven't exactly gotten to that part yet. And I doubt I will…" Because I had a great idea. I was going to give mediator lessons! And the best part for Alayna was that I wasn't going to hit on her!

…Okay, I definitely could have worded that better, but you get the point: I was going to be a better teacher than Paul was to me. And after I was done teaching her how to be a mediator, it only made sense that we'd learn to do the whole "seeing the truth" thing together.

Let me tell you—it was good to not be alone.

I proposed the idea to Alayna, and she seemed relieved—and tentative—which I totally got. I mean, from what she explained to me on the way to the rest of the class, nobody—and I mean _nobody_—liked her. Or trusted her, was more like. When I questioned Harry, Ron, and Hermione about it, they all blushed and stammered their apologies, saying that they believed what the rumors said about her being violent and liking to use people as punching bags. I was rather upset with them for believing what they heard—if there's one thing being a mediator has taught me, it's to never believe what you hear—but Harry _is _my twin, and Ron and Hermione _are_ his best friends, so I couldn't exactly give them the cold shoulder or anything. Besides, Alayna did tend to punch now and ask questions later (something I was sometimes guilty of myself).

We were able to talk the dude that was "in charge of us" into going to Hogsmede, which was totally awesome. I'm definitely the person that'd be voted "least likely to go shopping," but Hogsmede is definitely an exception. Partially, I believe, because you can go outside, lessening the system overload for me; and partially because Hogsmede had stores that the mall could never have. My favorite part was the butter beer—seriously, you have to try it.

Towards the end of the day—less than an hour before we had to go back to school—Peeves joined us. Apparently he was running from Filch. I didn't ask why—I _really_ didn't want to know.

The others (minus Alayna) were a bit annoyed by this, but it actually turned out to be a good thing...sort of.

We decided to take a quick trip to the Shrieking Shack before we left. I had borrowed one of Hermione's history books, and they'd mentioned about how—though the house seemed to be latent—years ago horrible sounds came from it. When I'd said something about it, they gave me the truth about what the sounds were, so I had to see it for myself. I mean, the lair of a werewolf, how could I resist?

I wish I could have resisted. It would have been a lot less tiring.

So we go see the Shack, which was totally run down, but still fascinating. I mean, the history of what had happened here was kinda cool. ProfessorBinns should teach about this stuff (if he had all the facts, that is); then maybe I'd actually like history class.

Anyways, it was while we were looking at the Shack that I got a creepy feeling. Suddenly I had a bad case of the goosebumps and all I wanted to do was to get away—far away. I looked over at my friends to see that Alayna, at least, was reacting the same way that I was. Something was going on. Something bad.

But what could it be? I mean, the Shrieking Shack was harmless now that Lupin was gone. But if it was so harmless, why was I totally freaked out?

My guess? It was the whole "seeing the truth" thing Professor D. was talking about in action. The lie: The Shack is harmless. The truth: It's not. Harmless, I mean.

The proof? Oh, just the fact that 10 Death Eaters appeared right before us. After that I was pretty much convinced that the Shrieking Shack was a bad, bad place.

I looked at Peeves, nodded my head, and he left to go get some help. Help that probably wouldn't get there in time. But look on the bright side: at least somebody would know where to find our dead bodies.

Alayna and I were closest to the Death Eaters, so we lost our wands and were flown back a couple of yards before we had, like, any time to react. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were luckier…sort of. They had their wands and were able to actually _keep_ them. Oh, and then didn't land on their butts after being thrown a couple yards into the air, either.

But they still had their work cut out for them. I mean, all three of them have dueled a couple times, so they were definitely able to hold their own, but it was 10 against 3—not very good odds.

So you're probably thinking somewhere along the lines of "so why don't you and Alayna get off your butts and help them, thereby improving the odds?"

First, I would like to say that we had to recover from the whole bruised-butt problem. I mean, being thrown far away isn't that easy to recover from, okay? Besides that, the spell he used had some sort of paralysis effect. It took a couple of minutes before we could move, let alone get up. Second, I _so_ did not want to go in there without a plan. I mean, these dudes had been using magic quite some time. In case you're forgetting, it's only been a couple of weeks for me.

I was reminded of that during the plan-thinking process. My inexperience with magic, I mean. That gave me an idea. I wasn't so experienced at magic, but I'd been practicing my Shifter powers, at least, for a couple years now. To kick some bad guy butt, I was going to play to my strengths.

I looked at Alayna. "Are you ready for your first shifter lesson?" I asked her.

She nodded, looking more than ready.

"You know that whole violence-is-bad speech you've probably heard a million times?"

"Yes," she scoffed.

"Forget it. This could get very messy…maybe. But hopefully not, because these Jimmy Choos are practically new." And broken in _before_ they were worn, thank you very much.

"Uhh…okay."

So I instructed her with her first lesson: telekinesis. This power—when new—is triggered by anger. Of which Alayna had quite a bit, thank god.

We waited until the Death Eaters were gloating—which unfortunately was when the others were on the ground, basically beaten—to act. At the moment when they were the most distracted, we got up from our hiding place (a conveniently placed boulder) and got into action.

We held hands, which combined our power. Second, we first used telekinesis to move away the Death Eaters' wands. Far away. After that, we got all of our wands back to their respective owners. Then came the hard part.

Telekinesis uses your strength as a Shifter to work. The stronger the shifter you are, the more powerful your telekinetic powers. The strength of telekinesis also depends on how many Shifters there are focusing on the target. By myself, I'm a pretty powerful Shifter (that's not bragging, that's fact—honestly). And even though Alayna was new at this, she had a lot of anger and a lot of talent. So together, we were pretty strong. But the heavier an object is, and the farther you're throwing it takes more strength. We wanted to do both at the same time 10 times. It was going to be difficult.

Concentrating hard, we used our power to move the first Death Eater into a tree. He was knocked out.

We moved onto the second and threw him into the Shrieking Shack. Who knows what happened to him, and who cares?

We did the same thing for Death Eaters 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3, disabling them at least temporarily. Nine down, one to go.

We turned our eyes on Death Eater number 10, who glared at us evilly, said he'd be back (of course he said something as cliche as that. It's like an unwritten law for bad guys), and he and his friends disappeared, though we obviously hadn't seen the last of them. But at least they were gone at the time, because I didn't think that I could move another Death Eater—I was just too weak.

Alayna and I stayed in our position for a couple minutes just to make sure they weren't planning a sneak attack or something dirty like that, and then collapsed on the ground. Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran to us just as Professor D. apparated.

I was starting to get tunnel vision, and knew I was going to black out. But at least we were alive, something that might not have been true if we hadn't discovered Alayna's abilities earlier that day.

I guess two Seers are better than one.

KawaiiQuerida-chan: School's out, school's out teachers let the bulls out! No more papers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks! Yay! I'm a junior! OO…that's scary! lol, hope you liked this chapter. I'm so happy, because before I had NO idea where this story was going to go…at all. But I have a plot lined up and everything! And since summer is here, I'll hopefully be able to write another chapter soon. But really it's up to my muse. Without her inspiration, I can't write a thing. Her name's Melody, so you can try to contact her to make her stay if you want. Or _you_ could be my inspiration by clicking on that button that's a beautiful shade of purple!


	7. The Third Eye

Disclaimer: I don't own Mediator or HP

KawaiiQuerida-chan: This chapter is dedicated to my reviewers of Chapter 6: amattsonperdue, Sevvy101, and Icekitsune4ever! I hope this chapter doesn't suckThank you guys again!

Chapter 7: The Third Eye

Being unconscious sucks. Trust me on this, I'm like, a total and complete expert on the subject. I've been knocked out or passed out so many times it's ridiculous. But it can have its perks. Sometimes. I mean, what teenage girl _doesn't_ want to wake up with a total hottie hovering over her, a look of worry in the guy's eyes? Can't name even one, can you?

So anyways, when I started to come to, I was totally waiting for this. Well, okay mostly I was sick to my stomach and uncomfortable and I had a killer headache, but a part of me was ready for the hovering/worried thing. So I opened my eyes, andas soon as my vision cleared, I was greeted with the sight of the worried eyes of—PEEVES!

Okay. Not what I had expected. But he _was_ hovering and he _was_ worried. So I was only half wrong.

But seriously—why in the world would Peeves be there by my bedside? Apparently, Peeves takes the whole servant/mistress thing _very _seriously. I really wish he wouldn't, sometimes.

But anywho, Jesse—the one I expected to be doing the hovering—_was_ there, he was just preoccupied with Professor D. at the moment. Of course, that changed as soon as I let out a rather loud groan, relaying my ills to those that had the misfortune of being within earshot of me.

"_Querida_, are you all right?" Jesse asked as he rushed to my bedside.

I stretched my stiff muscles despite the pain it caused me. "I swear every part of my body hurts. I feel like every belligerent ghost I've met since moving to Carmel decided to beat me up at the same time. But I'm not tired; I guess that's a plus."

The look Professor D. had aimed at me was one of quite a bit of amusement. "Well, one would hope that you'd be rested by now. You have, after all, been asleep for a week now."

"Oh, well that makes—A WEEK!" I couldn't believe it. I mean, I'd fallen asleep for a couple days at a time, but a week was certainly a new record for me. And what was I going to do about all the missed schoolwork? I was behind enough with the whole being-new-to-magic thing, now I had THIS to worry about? Don't you just love how great my life is _not_?

Jesse nodded, "Yes, _querida_, you had all of us worried sick. And there are some questions to be answered, as well. Alayna hasn't come to yet, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione don't know exactly what happened. We've been waiting for you to fill in the blanks.

And fill them in I did, starting from what I told Professor Binns all the way to when I blacked out. I guess maybe that some of the info wasn't exactly necessary, but I was covering all my bases just in case. And neither of them looked bored, either—which is a plus. Anyways, when I'd finished, Dumbledore stared out the window with a peculiar look on his face.

"Umm…are you feeling OK, Professor D.?" I didn't see anything all that interesting outside—I mean, it was raining, _again_. Unless Hogwarts' windows were the special kind that—oh, I don't know—allows you to…figure out…stuff?

What? Give me a break. I'm still pretty new with this whole wizard/witch scene. I mean, I've been studying pretty hard to be hip with the lingo of this world—like Jesse had done for mine—but I didn't know _everything_. For all I know, maybe there _are_ magic windows. Or will be sometime. Maybe I should patent the idea. If there aren't any magic windows now, I mean.

"I was speculating why the Death Eaters would be gathering at the Shrieking Shack. As far as I know, there's nothing of importance there—which is one of the reasons that I chose it as Remus' changing place."

"I don't know why the Death Eaters were there, but I know what else was," said Peeves in a proud manner. "When I realized that Mistress was safe, I went to see if I could help find out what was going on. I still don't, but I can tell you that there were over a hundred ghosts in that building." Peeves looked at me the way a child would after they went to bathroom for the first time. It was kind of scary, let me tell you.

I looked at Dumbledore, puzzled. "Wait, the Shrieking Shack is _actually_ haunted?"

Dumbledore looked even more confused than I was. "No, it's not. Never has been and—until today—I was sure it never would be."

Okay confusing! "So then what—the ghosts are having some sort of convention?" I asked.

"I don't know why they were there, either, but I know they were not very nice. If I wasn't dead, I think they would have tried to kill me. But that's okay, because I'll get them back."

Oh. My. God. Somebody please tell me I'm on a stupid reality television show. This is just way to outrageous. Death Eaters and ghosts that play tricks on other ghosts because the group of ghosts won't let the one ghost into their club. It was just too much.

"Faction." Jesse announced suddenly.

"Wow, this conversation is getting more confusing with each sentence." I said out loud to myself. "What exactly is a faction?"

"Basically, a group of ghosts gathering together for a cause they all believe in," Jesse replied.

Well, okay then. Revolting ghosts. Was there some sort of Ghost King or something that they were trying to upsurp? Or were they holding some sort of Electoral College to vote in the new Ghost King? It was all very comical, actually.

Professor D. looked very worried by this idea. "A group of ghosts fighting for Voldemort? Why would he want them on his side?" he pondered out loud.

I smiled, actually having the answer to a question for once—although it was probably inappropriate to smile, considering what my answer meant.

"I know why: ghosts can do as much harm as the living—especially if they're angry and in a group. Plus they're already dead, so Voldemort won't be getting casualties that way." Ha. Take that, Hermione.

Dumbledore sighed and, looking perturbed, left the room after wishing me well, saying that he had to share this new information with the Order as soon as possible. This was fine with me, really. I quickly sent Peeves away to annoy Merripoo some more, and then made room for Jesse on my bed.

God, your head is always in the gutter, isn't it? We were in the NURSE'S OFFICE for crying out loud. Like Jesse and I were going to do the nasty with Madame Promfrey not far away!

No, we just stayed in each other's arms for a while, thinking over all that had happened in such a short time. Whatever I had been expecting after reading the letter from Hogwarts—this really wasn't it. I mean, I'd found my long lost twin brother, but would either of us live long enough for that to matter?

I sat up suddenly on the couch a week later, my breathing rapid and my heart gripped with fear. Once both my breathing and heart beat were regular, I got up from the couch and ran like to Dumbledore's office, calling Jesse along the way.

I shouted the password at the gargoyle and ran all the way to the door, and then started pounding furiously on it. When the door opened, I was greeted with a sight that I hope to never see again: Dumbledore in "I love sushi" pajamas.

Ok, so because Professor D's a supreme Muggywamp and all that, I guess that means he's pretty smart. Hermione's books support this theory. But what guy in his right mind would wear "I love sushi" pajamas—especially considering his age. I mean, his pajamas are something that _I_ would wear—I mean, they were so cute!

But I guess it was a good thing that he was wearing something so outrageous, because it made me (temporarily) forget about my dream, which calmed me down so I didn't attack Dumbledore, so he didn't die, which is probably best for the majority of the magical world.

"Susannah, is everything all right?" Dumbledore asked with a yawn, stepping aside to let me enter.

I shook my head. "I had another dream."

Professor D. snapped to attention—literally snapped. It was like one moment he was a wilting flower, and the next moment he was as straight as a line—a vertical line. If we was as straight as a horizontal line, that means he fainted and that would not be very good. It was also make me wonder why Voldemort feared him so, if he fainted just when I said that I had a dream. I mean, can you _imagine_ him at Dr. Martin Luther King's speech? "What happened?" he asked.

"Well this dre—" I stopped to see Jesse burst in through the door, looking just as panicked as I had—thought at least I had knocked.

"¿_Querida_, _como estas?_"

"I'm fine, Jesse. I had another dream, but it wasn't an oh-look-out-somebody's-going-to-die-before-you-can-even-do-anything kind of dream."

Jesse now looked more amused than panicked. "And what kind of dream _was_ it then, _querida_?"

I thought for a second. "It was more of a you-better-listen-to-what-this-dream-is-telling-you-because-if-you-don't-stop-it-from-happening-lots-of-people-will-die-but-don't-worry-you-have-a-couple-months kind of dream."

"That's…good," Dumbledore said, looking relieved. And who could blame him? I certainly couldn't. I mean, I was just as relieved—if not more so—that I might actually be able to do something about this dream and maybe make up for how I failed Nicole Bratly. "But," Dumbledore continued, "We should probably start as soon as possible. Care to explain exactly what it is that you saw, Susannah?"

I nodded. "No problem."

So I told them how, at first, everything was happy-go-lucky and that all the people in my dream were perfectly fine. They were just normal people doing normal stuff—which actually made me envy them. Not that I actually _said_ that when I was explaining or anything. I mean, I don't see how that's really Professor D's business and Jesse has already heard the woe-is-me-because-I'm-not-normal routine.

Besides, I didn't envy them for long because, the next thing I knew, there was this glowing thingthatcut throughmy dream and all the people were dead. Or at least I assumed they were because of all the blood that poured down in my dream. That and the fact that, when the blood cleared, all the people—who looked extremely mad—had the aura that ghosts have surrounding them—not to mention the image of the Big Bad Voldemort at the very end.

After I finished telling my dream, Professor Dumbledore told Jesse and me to go to bed, and I certainly didn't argue. I mean, Hogwarts was very exhausting—especially considering all the catching up I had been doing that week. I mean, I had my classes, I had Hermione's tutoring, I had the homework from when I was knocked out, _and_ I was training Alayna. All I wanted was to get some, in my opinion, well-deserved rest.

So Jesse walked me to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and after we kissed goodnight I gathered up the books I'd been studying before I'd accidentally fallen asleep and headed to bed.

When I started to crawl under the covers, I heard a voice from the bed beside mine.

"Are you okay?" Alayna asked me.

"Ya, I'm fine."

Now what, you're probably wondering, is Alayna doing in Gryffindor?

Well, that's all thanks to me. It seems that I hadn't just recognized Alayna from the halls, but also from Gryffindor table (although she sat at the very end alone). She would have been in my dorm all along, except for the fact that, before she had even entered Hogwarts building, she'd attacked 2 Slytherin girls. Her punishment: solitude. She had to sleep all alone in this freaky extra dorm room. But because of my _excellent_ anger management tutoringskills, she was recovering and they let her out early because of her good behavior.

"Did you have another dream?" she asked me.

I looked at her, amazed. "Yes, why, did you?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't. You're worried, so I just guessed."

I smiled. "You kick ass, Nancy Drew."

She chuckled quietly.

You see throughout our lessons, it seems that we have the same powers, but with different frequencies. For instance, my precognitive dreams are pretty clear, while Alayna's are kind of fuzzy—like the vision part of her brain has bad reception or something. However, Alayna can gain access to somebody's heart and mind without even trying, but I have to fight against some of the natural DO NOT ENTER signs that all humans seem to have.

I explained my dream to Alayna, and when I was finished, added, "I don't know exactly what it means, but Professor D. and Jesse are planning on pouring over books starting tomorrow to see if they can't find anything. I'd like to try something different, but I might need your help."

Alayna nodded. "Sure. I just need to sleep a bit more, and I'm up for anything that will help give Voldemort the boot."

Our conversation ended there, and as I lay in bed, starting to drift off, I hoped that what I planned to do worked. Because if it didn't, Voldemort might win.

School the next day was pretty basic. History of Magic was boring, Transfiguration was a bit interesting, Potions was easy, Charms was okay, and Defense Against the Dark Arts—which did I mention is probably my favorite class—was especially interesting.

Our teacher, Professor Mizuki (Snape didn't get the DADA position like, according to Harry, Hermione, and Ron, he _really_ wants) taught us about running.

"In most Defense Against the Dark Arts classes offered around the world, you learn assorted spells and curses to attack or disable your opponent," Professor Mizuki said. "What they never mention is the smartest defense of all—running." This caused some odd faces on my fellow Gryffindors and smirks on the Slytherins, but she was not deterred. "There will come a time when either your opponent is much stronger than you or you are greatly out numbered. In cases such as these, self-preservation is all important."

Amen, sister, I thought to myself, and was surprised when Professor Mizuki turned in my direction and smiled knowingly. Had she read my mind? And if she had, maybe I'd better reconsider the occulmency lessons Harry had mentioned.

"Sure you could stay and fight, but in the situations I mentioned, you'd die. No matter how hard you would try, your fate would still be the same. And if you die, your opponent lives, something you obviously didn't want—thus the duel. But if you run, you can take the time to become more powerful or gain allies so that the outcome is in your favor."

Ron raised his hand, and Professor M. nodded consent for him to speak. "Excuse me, but how can you run? I mean,I guess you couldget lucky sometimes and escape, but most times that not possible."

Professor M. smiled, her amber eyes bright, causing Ron to blush a deep red (did I mention that Professor Mizuki is only in her early 20's and very attractive? Well she is. She had almost every guy in the class staring dreamily at her).

"That's a very good question, Mr. Weasley. One that leads me to the lesson: I'm going to teach you ways to help you escape from a situation where your death seems inexorable. Today's method: astral projection. With this technique, one can find a temporary place to hide, astral project, and lead the opponents away from your hiding place. Once they're far enough away, simply project back into your body and run to safety in the opposite direction. Also, your astral selves can be used in duels and can cast any of the spells that you yourself are capable of. That takes quite a bit of practice, of course."

Professor Mizuki then put us in pairs (one person projects and the other coaches) and instructed us. At the moment, she said, we could astral project only by at first meditating. Supposedly we would be able to do it instantly with enough practice.

Right before the end of the period, both Hermione and I were able to successfully astral project, as could a few others. Ron and Harry could also do it, but only for a brief amount of time (which seemed to happen to all the guys in the class…wonder what it means).

After a quick dinner, Alayna and I headed up to my room. We got out this small table that I had acquired with help from Jesse. We closed the drapes on the windows and then placed four plates north, south, east, and west. The northern plate had some water in it, the southern plate had a candle in it, the western plate had some earth in it, and the eastern plate had water in it.

Alayna and I sat at opposite ends of the table. I picked a card and put it in front of her. The next card I placed to my left. Thesecond card I picked was placed underneath thefirst one. The card picked afterwards was placed to my right. I picked a card a final time and placed the last card in front of me. Basically the cards formed a diamond short of shape in the end.

As we joined hands, Alayna asked, "What exactly are we trying to do here?"

"We're using these tarot cards my biological mother bought to find out what Voldemort's up to. Once we know that, we can stop him…hopefully."

Alayna nodded, and once we were ready, we started to chant:

"Ancient Ones of Dark and Light,  
we ask you now to lend us your might.  
Goddesses of Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire,  
reveal to us our hearts' desire.  
So mote it be!"

The silver cards started to glow white—which was pretty awesome, I must say—and this cliché magic wind came and whipped our hair all around—I was ­_so­ _going to need my hair brushed.

Once the light and the wind were gone, I flipped over the top card: the Goddess of Swords. The Card to my left was the Goddess of Change, the one in the middle was the Goddess of Souls, the one to my right was the Goddess of Evil, and the one at the bottom was the Goddess of War.

I stared at them for a minute or so, thinking of what it could mean. I mean, something this important couldn't just be assumed. I had to get this right, or a lot more people were going to die because of my failure—and I _couldn't_ let that happen.

"The top card, in this instance, is supposed to show the weapon or whatever's being used. The next 3 cards are to show what the first card does, and the last card shows what the first card is going to be used for. So what I'm getting out of this," I said, "Is that the weapon is a Sword or blade of some sorts that Changes Souls Evil. The evil souls, I think, are going to be used for War."

Alayna nodded. "That's what I was thinking. And it fits with what occurred at the Shrieking Shack. All those ghosts must have been people that Voldemort killed with this weapon and turned evil. And like what you said when you first woke up: if Voldemort has ghosts at his side, he basically unstoppable."

Oh ya. I've got it, but good.

"Now we just need to figure out what sort of sword or blade can turn souls evil," I said. "Any ideas?"

Alayna shook her head. "I think we'd better go get Dumbledore and tell him what we've found. Maybe he has an idea of what exactly we're looking for. And if not, at least he can help with the research."

I laughed as we cleaned up the evidence of our fortune-telling escapade. I _so_ did not need Professor Trelawney breathing down my neck, commenting on my eyes. I mean, I'm enough of a freak already, do people really need to know that on top of it all, I have three eyes? I think not.

When we told Dumbledore what we figured out, he was grim to say the least. He didn't know of any weapon that could do this to people, but was glad that we were at least one step closer. Now came the really fun stuff: scouring for hours a day over thousands of books to try to figure out what the weapon is and how to stop it. It wasn't all bad, though. Professor D. said that Alayna, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I would all get extensions on all assignments and tests until this whole thing was sorted out.

Maybe having a third eye isn't all bad.

KawaiiQuerida-chan: NOTICE! FOR ALL READERS! I kind of hate to do this, but if I don't get at least 15 reviews (that aren't flames) for this chapter, I'm not updating—ever. And I don't think that it's too many reviews to ask: around 80 people read chapter 6. And also, there might be quite a while of time (at least a month) between this chapter and next chapter, depending on how long I'll be "working." Put the two together, and I think you guys can get up to 15 reviews easy. Please and thank you! Oh and for those of you who don't know, it's said that people who can see the future have a "third eye." And sorry about the chapter title, but I couldn't think of anything. It was either that or "Greet the Goddesses" or something equally stupid.


	8. The Soul Blade

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own HP, Mediator, or Jesse de Silva…sigh

KawaiiQuerida-chan: umm…I'd like to make a correction on the notes about HBP, ok? I said something about Snape aiming to kill Dumbledore and missing and Harry somehow getting released. My correction is that Draco was going to kill Dumbledore (well not really, cuz Draco couldn't but you get the picture) but then Snape came and stopped him and then they did some hocus pocus so Voldemort thinks Draco's dead, ok? Ok. I think that's all…enjoy!

Chapter 8: The Soul Blade

This whole Hogwarts fiasco has been quite enlightening. I've learned that I can see things, that wizards are weird, absolute power does, indeed corrupt absolutely, and I HATE BOOKS!

Really, I do. I _loathe _them. And personally, I think it's part of good old Voldy's plan to bore the youth to death with books so that he only has to worry about the old people. It's quite ingenious, really, when you think about it. I mean, the "great and powerful Dark Lord" going up against the elderly? What are they going to do—run Voldemort over with their wheel chairs?

Seriously, though, I was getting sick and tired of books. Every day it was the same thing: wake up, go to my classes, do my homework for a couple of hours, then spend the rest of my day in the library with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Alayna, Dumbledore, and Jesse pouring through numerous volumes to learn about a single weapon whose name we didn't know. Not only was it unbelievably dull, but it was also extremely fruitless—we were getting absolutely NOWHERE!

On the bright side though, I learned that my cover up career is definitely not to be a librarian.

Anyways, it was as I was watching the Gryffindor Quidditch Team practice that I was hit with an idea—Paul. I thought that maybe he would know of the blade. I mean, if it was somehow controlling souls, it might possibly be shifter- or mediator-realated. If that was true, Paul might know about it.

I figured it was a shot, so I ran to my dorm to get my cell, on which Dumbledore had done some hocus pocus so it would work. Hey, I'm a 17-year-old girl in the 21st century. Me minus phone equals over my dead body. The point is that I decided to give Paul a ring—the phone kind, not the marry me kind.

"Hello?" Paul asked when he _finally_ answered the phone.

"Paul, it's Suze."

"Hey, Suze. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," I said casually. "There's just this ultra-evil wizard who's controlling all these evil ghosts with aknife of some sort so that he can take over the world. Nothing important."

Paul chuckled. "So what do you need my help with?"

Normally I would have been offended that he assumed that I needed help just because I called him, but I figured that by arguing I was just wasting time, so I got straight to the point. "I was wondering if you knew anything about it—a name for it would be most helpful."

"Sorry Suze," Paul replied, "but it doesn't ring any bells."

Paul and I talked for a little while longer about what was happening in Carmel and at Hogwarts before we hung up. When I turned around, I got the fright of my life.

Oh, don't worry, it wasn't Vold-a-snort or a Death Eater or Dumbledore wearing something even more frightening that his "I love sushi" pajamas. It was just Alayna. Not that she's particularly scary or anything. She just snuck up on me, is all.

I put my hand over my heart. "God, Layna, you scared the crap out of me."

Alayna smiled mischievously. "All in a day's work." She handed me a rather large-looking package. "This just got delivered. I thinks it's the homework from your friend CeeCee."

I looked at the package and groaned loudly. It was a VERY large package. "Great. More work."

Layna looked at me sympathetically. "Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, this shifter I know from Carmel. His grandpa wrote this book that might as well be titled "Shifting for Dummies." It basically has everything in there that one would ever want to know about people of our persuasion—everything except for this blade it would seem."

"He didn't know?"

I shook my head. "No, but Paul said he'd ask his grandfather when he gets home, and see if maybe he has any idea what it might be."

Alayna flopped down on her bed. "I hope he finds something out. I actually think I'd rather turn in my work on time and do the tests with the rest of them if it meant not spending almost every waking moment vainly searching for this seemingly non-existent blade."

I nodded in agreement. "I just hope we find it soon, because if we don't…" I left off. Both of us knew the consequences, so they really didn't have to be said.

Alayna slowly rose from the bed. "Come on," she said, "DADA starts in 10 minutes."

We quickly gathered up all our stuff and headed to my favorite class.

"Today we will be learning how to—as your astral selves—possess your enemy. By doing so, you can disarm, confuse, and even injure your opponent. We'll start by possessing these cats, for they are more likely to accept your intrusion. And don't worry—no cats will be harmed in the teaching of this lesson…"

After class, when I was leaving the room, Professor Mizuki stopped me. She waited until we were alone to ask her question. "Professor Dumbledore told me that you—along with your brother and friends—are helping him research…something." She paused, and there was an odd look in her eyes.

"Umm…yes," I replied intelligently.

"Would you mind telling me exactly what you're researching?"

Now, I know what you may be thinking. All these alarms are probably going off in your head. And they were going off in mine, too. I mean, why would she want to know? Why was it any of her business? I, like you, knew about the DADA position being cursed, so I, again like, I suspect, you, thought that maybe she was one of Voldy's followers and she was trying to pry how much I knew or whatever so she could take it to her boss and get a pat on the head.

That's just ridiculous.

Don't ask me how I knew—I suspect it had something to do with "seeing the truth"—but I could tell that she meant me no harm. I could sense that it wasn't Voldemort she wished to help, but me.

So even though Dumbledore had made me promise not to, I told her everything. After I'd done some magic so that any eavesdroppers that might be hanging around couldn't hear what was going on, of course.

"Does that ring any bells?" I asked after I'd finished.

Professor Mizuki looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Perhaps." She then focused on me. "How many classes do you have left?"

"Just Potions," I replied.

"After Potions, meet me in the Library with everybody that's helping you find what this blade is. I think I might have some information that might help you guys out."

I couldn't help it, I was giddy. "You meant it? I might _actually_ be able to stop reading those life-sucking books?"

Professor Mizuki laughed. "Just maybe."

And with a swish of her cloak, she was gone.

When we all met up in the library and I confessed to everybody that I'd told Professor Mizuki everything, they were upset, to say the least. Truthfully, they flipped out—even Dumbledore. Actually, that's not 100 percent true. Jesse, my ever faithful boyfriend, defended me, saying that I had a good reason.

Lucky for him, I did.

But before I could actually confess my reason, Professor Mizuki arrived with a rather large book in her hands. Unfortunately, it reminded me of all the homework—from both Carmel and Hogwarts—that I had waiting up in my dorm. I had to remind myself to think happy thoughts.

Mizuki stopped right in front of us. "I understand that you don't agree with Suze's decision to tell me what exactly is going on. But I promise you, I'm only here to help." She turned to Dumbledore then. "You've known me since I was a little girl,Albus, do you really think I would switch sides so easily?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Of course not, Akiko. That's not why I didn't want Susannah to tell you. If Voldemort were to find out that you know something…"

Mizuki shook her head. "First of all," she said, turning from Dumbledore, "If we're going to be working together, I wish all of you to call me Akiko outside of class, all right?" When we nodded, she continued, "I was looking through the books I brought with me, and I think that perhaps I've the weapon you're looking for."

She handed the book to me, and I read the selected passage out loud. "Centuries ago, a Priestess met a man who had murdered many in his life, but old age made him regret it. Knowing his time was up and that he was not going to have a happy afterlife, he went to the Priestess to see if she would be able to assist him. Taking pity on the man, she created a weapon known as the Soul Blade. If used as the Priestess desired—to cleanse repenting souls—the Soul Blade is harmless and possibly even useful. In the hands of one who wishes to do harm, however, the souls of those taken by the Blade turn evil and do the bidding of the one that killed them." I looked up from the book. "It then lists two ways of purifying the Blade, which will hopefully cause all the souls to either be cleansed or sent to hell. It's never been used before, so the effect is unknown."

Harry smiled brightly. "So we're almost ready to send Voldemort to death's door—for real, this time. Which spell should we use, Suze?"

"Well, the second one not only needs 4 shifters, it also needs some sort of ancient Egyptian urn that'll be impossible to find. I say we do the first spell first, and if that doesn't work, then we'll bother getting the fourth shifter and the urn."

Everybody seemed to agree, and just as Akiko was about to open her mouth, Hagrid burst through the door. "Dumbledore, 'arry…I've bin lookin' all over. Got word from Arthur…he says…he says…he says that Sirius is alive!"

KQ-chan: Sorry about the short chapter—writer's block.--and I'm sorry about the cliffy. I hate them, but I just couldn't resist. I'm also sorry about any grammatical errors there might be. I'm going to Gettysburg and I wanted to get this chapter up before then so I didn't edit it as well as I normally do. Review please! I looooooooove getting reviews! Oh, and I lowered the limit thingy to 10, ok? Not that it means I'll be updating soon or whatever. Unfortunately, school will be starting soon, and that means less time to write. I'll try my best though!


	9. Now That's What I Call Welcoming

Ex-KawaiiQuerida-chan, now BellaMarie913: This chapter is dedicated to ekmemerald because she's the one who guilt tripped me into writing this chapter.

Gemini chapter IX: Now That's What I Call Welcoming

* * *

"God, I'd loooooove to date him!" Alayna said as Supernatural, the show we'd been watching, ended.

Yes, that's right. We were watching the telly. At _Hogwarts_.

What can I say? Dumbledore loves me.

See, I'd been dying without my weekly dose of Jared Padalecki, so Dumbledore made the TV work, just like he had made my cell phone work. And can you really blame him? I mean, who doesn't love cute old Susannah Simon? Well, besides Moldy Voldy and his minions, I mean. But they don't actually count anyways.

I laughed at Layna's previous exclamation. "Or any guy who hunts demons. There are many advantages to it. I mean, you'll never run out of salt for your popcorn."

Alayna chortled. "You'll never get thirsty—he always has a flask of (holy) water with him."

I nodded in agreement. "He has a fine appreciation of art—especially the kind that kills people."

Alayna grinned evilly as she said, "But best of all, his gun is always cocked and ready."

This caused us to laugh—well, I laughed, Alayna mostly snorted—furiously. That girl has a kick-butt sense of humor, and it definitely felt good to laugh. There hadn't been much of it going around. And for a good reason.

I mean, Sirius was alive! This was, unfortunately, a good news/bad news type of situation. The good news was that Harry had his godfather back when he thought he'd had no one—except for me, of course. The bad news was that, instead of being at peace, Sirius had been in Voldemort's grasp for over a year. Now, I hadn't yet met Voldy personally, but I couldn't exactly picture him as a very gracious host. In fact, Sirius had probably been tortured this entire time. This was not exactly a good thing, thus the soberness. And by sober I mean depressed, not in the way that means you've abstained from alcohol.

And while everybody was glad we'd figured out what the Soul Blade was and how to (hopefully) reverse its effects, we had another question to answer.

How were we going to get Sirius back?

"We'll get him back," Alayna said to me, doing that mind reading thing she's so good at.

"How do you know?" asked a voice behind us.

It was Harry.

Layna smiled reassuringly. "_Hello_! We're the good guys! I mean, do you _not_ watch TV? The good guys _always_ win."

Harry shook his head. "This is reality, Alayna."

Seeing my twin so depressed was extremely upsetting. I felt his pain—literally. I wished there was something—anything—that I could do to help him. But so far, no cigars.

"So?" Layna retorted as she flung her hair in a convincingly haughty manner. "You have me on your side. With my supreme skills, we'll have the Godfather back in no time." She glanced in my direction. "Oh, and Suze will help a bit," she added with a wink.

I was eternally grateful to Alayna for what she was doing—or trying to do, anyways. Harry was being a little stubborn with the whole depression thing. But anyways, like I said, I was grateful.

"Go with her on this one, Harry. Alayna likes to have things her way. Disagree with her, and you're bound to get hurt. She punches harder than I do. And that's saying something, thank you very much."

Alayna blew on her fist. "What can I say? I'm multi-talented."

Even Harry had to chuckle at that one.

"Thanks. So how's the Soul Blade purification process going?"

"Pretty good," I answered. "We have the ingredients and everything. We're doing the spell later today."

"Unfortunately," Layna added, "The spell works better if you actually have the blade with you. Since we are blade-less at the moment, there's a chance it might not work."

"If that's the case," I continued, "We'll just have to use the 2nd spell—which works the same no matter where the blade is. I've also called Paul and asked him if he wouldn't mind taking a vaycay in jolly old England. He'll be here in a couple of days. Even if we don't need him for the spell, he can still help out."

Harry put his arm around my waist and his head against mine. We could both feel it.

Happily-ever-after or otherwise, the end was definitely near.

* * *

There was a time when I innocently went through life, not needing to worry about spells or evil wizards and what not. It was a nice life, one that I enjoyed immensely, might I add. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and I grew up and my innocence was lost. I was two. After that, I could no longer be the carefree girl I was meant to be. All normalcies disappeared. Nothing about me is normal. Not even my conversations.

"Okay, next we need some pickled pig's feet," Alayna read from the book.

You see? Normal people just don't talk about pickled pig's feet! I mean, first off, it's just way gross, and second, who wants to chop off a poor piggy's feet? A vegetarian I am not, but I have no desire to see feetless pigs.

Strong, solid arms wrapped around my waist. "Something wrong, _querida_?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I was just feeling bad for Mr. Pig."

Alayna looked up, confused. "Why? I mean, it was probably dead before its legs got chopped off, so it's not like the pig felt any pain."

Sometimes, I worry about her.

Jesse kissed the top of my head and then moved to stand beside me. "Are we almost ready?"

Alayna nodded. "Yes. We just have to wait for the others. It's a bit cliché, but according to the spell, the more the merrier."

Jesse sat down at a nearby chair and dragged me on his lap. Exhausted by the last couple of days, I rested my head in the crook of his neck, soothed by Jesse's big, callused hand rubbing up and down my back.

I sighed in pleasure, and Jesse chuckled. "You know what you need, _querida?_"

I could think of many things I needed, but some of them weren't for Layna's ears, if you get my meaning. One specific clean thing came to mind, however. "Uh…a Yoo-hoo and a Butterfinger bar?" I replied, thinking of what brought me from my tears when I was babysitting Jack.

Jesse laughed—and god how I _love_ that laugh. "That's not what I was thinking. I was suggesting a night starting with dinner, a walk, and then a hot bath."

"That sounds superlative, Jesse. But I have to find Sirius first."

Jesse seemed to drop the subject, which disappointed me, I must admit. Then again, Dumbledore and the others entered right after that, so he didn't really get to push the subject. But still, if I didn't get to have a little "me" time, I was seriously going to go insane.

But there were more important things than our psychological health to deal with at the moment.

All of us—except for Jesse, of course, who is a shifter and not a wizard—gathered around the table on which sat the potion and joined hands. Which is totally cliché, I'm starting to think. I mean, it just seems that whenever somebody is doing a spell, the participants all join hands. Actually…when I thought about it, the spell was just full of clichés. But whatever, if being cliché made the spell work, then who was I to complain?

So once we all joined hands in harmony, we started to chant:

"Spirits trapped by an accursed death,  
Turned to evil at your last breath,  
With light and magic we call to thee,  
Purified, you are now saved and free."

At the last word, Alayna broke the connection to throw in the gingerroot…

…And nothing happened.

Nada. Zero. Zippo. Zilch.

The spell had failed.

So I _could_ complain about the hand-holding thing. Not that I really felt like it then, of course.

Anyways, we all wallowed in our misery for all of 2 seconds before Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Professor Mizuki and I will research to find out where this urn might be located. When we have a lead, you'll know. In the mean time, go about your business as usual. It won't do anybody any good if you fail a class."

It sucked. I mean, if the second spell failed, we were basically screwed. Voldemort would win and end up destroying the world and everybody in it—possibly even himself. He did sort of seem the suicidal type. If being dead meant getting more power or whatever, I mean. Because the whole doing-whatever-it-takes-to-bring-himself-back-to-life thing isn't very suicidal.

And it would so figure that once I finally got a brother that I could really talk to—I could never talk to Sleepy or Dopey, and Doc's a little young and…unique—the world would end.

That's just so the story of my life.

* * *

Two days later, Alayna and I were getting ready to go to Hogsmeade, where Paul would be getting off the Hogwarts Express.

Paul's arrival to Hogwarts was being kept secret. No one—and I mean _no one_—knew about it. Well, besides Dumbledore, Jesse, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Alayna and myself, of course. So obviously _somebody_ knew about it, but nobody out of our "clique."

Anywho, everybody was going to Hogsmeade, so we had a totally valid reason for going ourselves. We planned to meet up with Paul and spend the day having some well-deserved fun before we had to go on with the problems that needed to be solved.

Alayna had never gone to Hogsmeade because of the whole friendless problem, and so she had nothing to wear. I—being the generous soul that I am—had lent her a sparkling green spaghetti strap top, jean mini, knee-high boots—and yes—even my favorite leather jacket.

I am just so selfless. Santa's totally hooking me up this Christmas.

I was just putting on the finishing touches when Hermione came into the room. "You guys just about ready? We're leaving now."

I nodded as I rose. "Yep, we're all good. Let's go. I want butter beer!"

We walked outside the dorm, where Harry, Ron, and Jesse were waiting for us. Harry and Ron looked like they just couldn't wait to get going. Jesse however…well, let me just say he looked a bit disgruntled, and I knew exactly why.

Alayna, however, didn't.

"Why so glum, chum?" she asked, elbowing Jesse in his side.

The reason, you see, was because of Paul, of course. Paul no longer stole from ghosts, he only exorcised them when he absolutely had to, and he had stopped doing anything and everything to get in my pants, but Jesse still wasn't too fond of him. It didn't matter that both of us felt that our relationship was 100 percent platonic—which Jesse knew full well—but he still wasn't completely comfortable with Paul.

I went up to Jesse, put my hand in his, and kissed him lightly on the lips while sending a message to Layna telepathically. "Let's just say that Jesse and Paul don't exactly have the best history, and Jesse still doesn't completely trust him."

Alayna looked at me, and her mouth formed and 'O,' telling me she understood…well, partly, anyways.

* * *

People wearing all sorts of outrageous (or at least they looked outrageous to _me_, anyways) clothes bustled around us as we stood waiting on the platform for Paul's train to arrive. Harry, Ron, and Jesse were circled close together, whispering conspiratorially to one another. By the looks my brother and his best friend kept sending my way, they'd gotten Jesse to tell them why he was so unhappy exactly.

Which was actually a good thing. Being dead for as long as he had been, Jesse wasn't exactly used to communicating. The fact that more people than just me and Paul were able to hear him still kind of blew his mind, and old habits really do die hard, apparently. Jesse tended to forget that he was able to hold a conversation with people, and therefore usually just stood there looking all stoic-y.

On the other hand, I didn't need them treating Paul badly. Something had gone wrong with his train, so he was running late and probably on his last nerve. I would really rather they NOT egg Paul as soon as he exited the train for a couple reasons. First because I'd be the one stuck listening to him moan and groan about it, and second because—even though the invisible horse-drawn carriages weren't enclosed—I still didn't feel like being anywhere near Paul with him smelling like eggs.

I hate egg salad sandwiches. A lot.

"How much longer is this going to take? I'd really like to get more Butter Beer," Alayna whined with a pout on her face.

Hermione laughed. "I don't think it'll be much longer. In fact, I'd say—"

Hermione's words were suddenly drowned out at the sound of the approaching train.

On cue, the boys disbanded their circle and instead came to stand with us in a line. I turned to Jesse.

"It'll be okay, Jesse. You don't need to throw fruits or various meats at the guy, all right?"

One side of Jesse's mouth rose in a breathtaking half smile. "All right, _querida_."

The train then came to a full stop, and all hell broke loose.

Death Eaters suddenly appeared out of nowhere, pointing their wands at random and innocent bystanders. The people then started screaming as loud as the possibly could, pushing and shoving to get away from the spells and curses that were being cast.

And don't ask me why they didn't just curse the Death Eaters right back. I honestly have no idea. I guess maybe if you aren't used to being attacked on a regular basis, the thought of retaliating doesn't really register.

I turned to look at Jesse bewilderedly, trying to stay upright despite the many people shoving me out of their way. "How did they know?"

That question was an excellent one. None of us would have told anybody, and I couldn't believe that it was a coincidence that Moldy Voldy would chose the day Paul came to Hogwarts as the day to attack a _train_, for crying out loud.

So that meant that he knew. Somehow he _knew_.

Jesse, of course, didn't have an answer for me. Instead, he just took my hand to dodge a curse that had been aimed our way.

I took out my wand. "Protego!" I shouted, moving closer to Layna, who had turned into Super Witch.

"Layna, can you and the rest hold off the Death Eaters while I go get Paul?"

Alayna nodded. "Just hurry the hell up!"

So Jesse and I raced to and quickly boarded the unusually reticent train. "Paul!" I shouted as I passed the cubicles full of cringing witches and wizards. "Paul, where the hell are you? We've got to go!"

A door a few yards ahead of me slid open, revealing a startled Paul. "Suze! What the hell is this?" he asked, dipping back through the door to get his things.

I looked towards a window at what was happening outside. "Your welcoming committee," I replied, my mouth a severe line of displeasure.

"Now that's what I call welcoming," Paul said sourly.

I took a deep breath. "We need to go. Now. Jesse, Paul, stay behind me, okay?"

Paul shook his head. "No way, Suze. If you think I'm going to cower behind you like—"

Oh, God. I definitely did not need this. Paul and his sexist I'm-the-guy-so-I'm-supposed-to-be-the-one-in-front-to-protect-the-lady. In novels it's romantic. In real life, it's extremely irritating.

"Paul!" I shouted, interrupting him before he could get very far. "Do you know any spells?"

Pause. "No."

"Do you have a wand, at least?"

"No."

"Do you even know what those things out there are?"

"No."

"Are you going to shut up and do _exactly_ as I say for fear that I, she who has a wand and knows spells will cast them on you?"

Pause. Paul nodded in (reluctant) agreement, and so we entered the pandemonium that was happening outside.

We hadn't even been in the midst of the battle for a second when a Death Eater (which, by the way, is a totally inappropriate name. I mean, they don't eat death. How _can _you eat death? They should be the Death Revelers. Or maybe the Death Drunkards) started to come from our left.

I raised my wand again. "Avis Oppugno!" I called, sending forth a flock of birds to attack him and feeling kind of like the Wicked Witch of the West. Northwest, I suppose, since I live in Northern California and all.

We started to move forward, and just then Professor Dumbledore appeared. He looked pretty pissed. I was actually kind of scared. Well, you know. As scared as someone could be when facing an old guy wearing a hot pink wizard's robe.

"Susannah, I want you to make sure that all your friends leave _immediately_. The Order will handle this."

I nodded my head. "Yes sir."

I didn't really want to, of course. Being in the middle of the fight had my adrenaline pumping, and all I really wanted to do was to be a part of it. To fight beside the Order.

But I wasn't stupid. I knew that I hadn't been a witch for long, and while I was extremely advanced, considering, doing what I wanted would be unbelievably stupid and dangerous. And not just dangerous to me, but for whomever tried to save me. Like Jesse, for instance.

And like I said, pissed off wizards wearing pink scare me.

So I'd behave like a good little girl. Today.

Our path was cleared once Dumbledore departed, but that only lasted a second, for he was soon replaced by another Death Eater. I was beginning to think they were rabbits or something. It seemed like you'd vanquish one and another 5 took his place.

"Duro!" the Death Eater shouted, attempting to turn me into stone.

"Finite Incantatem!" I countered, effectively stopping his spell. Not that I wouldn't have made an excellent statue, what with my above average looks. "Expelliarmus!" I exclaimed once more, getting him out of our way.

"Wow," I heard Paul breathe from behind me. "Watch out Charmed Ones, Susannah Simon's going to kick your ass."

I snorted and proceeded to where my friends were fighting fairly well beside Order members.

I moved to Alayna. "Dumbledore says it's time to go. Let's let the Order handle this. I'll apparate to the gate with Jesse…will you take Paul?"

She hesitated, wanting to fight just as much as I did, but then nodded as she sent a stinging hex toward an unfortunate opponent of hers.

I sent the message to the others, gave Paul to Alayna, and with one loud _crack_, we had disappeared safely.

I only hoped those we'd left behind would be as lucky.

**My very apologetic apology:**

Ex-KQ-chan, now BellaMarie913: Please don't hit me with eggs, fruits, or various meats!!!!! Protego!!! (Why do I always think of spaghetti when I see that spell?) Okay, I'm soooooooo sorry that I haven't updated in like a year. I bow down to all of you that have been waiting. Please forgive me!!!! But, you know, to be fair, I didn't have a computer from September '06 to February or something. So you should take off quite a few months because it's _really _hard to update without a computer. Honestly, go ahead and try it. And then I started to get into writing my own stuff, and fictionpress became my home. I WILL finish this story. Before I die (insert winks here). In fact, I'll make a conscientious effort to update within a few months. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm a senior now, so I have regular school stuff, plus getting-ready-for-college stuff, a graduation project, my own stories to write, and I would like to be able to read books that my now retired Chem teacher let me read way back in June. After all, I'm pretty sure she meant for me to BORROW them, not KEEP them. (sigh) Excuses, excuses. I DO love you guys, and I AM extremely sorry! Please don't hate me!!!!


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